The Later Years
by BrittLovesSan
Summary: Sequel to "The Early Years". Brittany and Santana are getting a lot more serious in their relationship, however things aren't going exactly to plan. Can they work out these issues before they get too much or will problems continue to arise? Begins a year after "The Early Years" ended. G!P Santana.
1. Moving In

The Later Years

Chapter 1: Moving In

Santana's POV

Friday 29th June 2018

Today is the day that Brittany is finally moving in with me. She was all scheduled to move in last month but then things got in the way so we decided to wait a few weeks. However a few weeks after that when I was having a big clear out of my house in preparation for Brittany to move all her things in, I realised that some of the rooms were needing repainted so we figured it would be easier to do some decorating first. All the decorating got finished last weekend and I finished clearing out stuff that I didn't want any more at the beginning of the week so now today is the perfect time to move in. Brittany's family and friends and some of my family and friends are helping us both with the move. It's mostly just clothes and personal items as well as Brittany's study books that we need to move because my house already has a lot of furniture in it plus Brittany is coming straight from her parent's house so she doesn't own a lot of furniture.

"Uh…it's too heavy" Brittany groans while placing a box on the floor by the front door.

"Come on, don't be a wimp" I say laughing.

"I'm not a wimp Santana, this box is literally too heavy for me" she pouts.

"Whatever you say babe" I smile. "Why don't you go and grab the pillows or something out of the van and I'll lift this" I tell her while lifting the box off of the ground without any problem.

"Show off" she mutters while walking outside. The box really isn't all that heavy, I think Brittany is just getting bored of moving things from one place to another because we've been doing it for a while now.

"So how are you feeling about the prospect of living with someone again?" my brother Jason asks me as he places a box down next to the one I just sat down. "It's been a while since you lived with someone" he states.

"I'm feeling really good about it actually, I've had enough living alone because it's pretty lonely" I say honestly.

"I know but this is a big thing, you're going to be seeing one another all day every day now, doesn't that scare you a little?" he asks.

"No not really" I shake my head.

"I mean Brittany is just a year younger than me and I know I wouldn't want to be permanently living with Clare right now" he says.

"You wouldn't?" I question. "You two have been together almost longer than Britt and I" I state.

"Yeah we're not there yet, its way too big a step" he replies.

"Well I can assure you Brittany and I are more than ready for this" I state. "We lived together for a full week back when things were weird with her parents and everything was fine then" I say. I know this is going to be different because it's not just for a week but I do feel confident this is all going to work out.

"Ok but what happens if you two have a big fight about something, it's not like Brittany can just go home because this is her home" Jason says. "You're going to have to see one another and sort it out whether you want to or not."

"Honestly Jason it's going to be fine. I mean I was married before so I do know what it's like to live with someone" I say.

"I wasn't telling you it's a bad idea, I was just saying I don't think I could do it just now that's all" he says.

"I know but Brittany and I are on the same page so it's all good" I tell him.

XXX

"Rachel would you mind taking this box inside for me?" I ask while taking a small box out of the car.

"No I'm ok thanks" she replies before walking away.

"I'll take it" Mercedes shakes her head at Rachel before taking the box from me.

"Seriously what is her problem with me?" I ask Mercedes.

"She just gets like that when she doesn't want to do something. Helping someone move in is not something she wants to do so she's making sure everyone knows it plus she likes to be centre of attention and it's just not happening today" she replies.

"Who wants to be centre of attention?" Brittany asks coming over to us.

"Rachel, who else?" Mercedes replies.

"Oh right yeah" Brittany nods.

"Anyway I should take this inside and see where Rachel went" Mercedes says while taking the box inside.

"Um babe…where did the TV come from?" I ask when I notice a TV packaged up lying across the backseat of the car. "I've already got a TV" I state.

"I know but this is my TV, I got it for my Christmas one year so it's rightfully mine to take so why not" Brittany shrugs.

"Ok fair enough but where do we put it because like I say I've already got enough televisions?" I ask.

"We'll find somewhere now let's just keep moving before we lose the momentum and are too tired to unload the boxes anymore" she says and I nod while unloading a few more boxes.

"Hey can you help me upstairs with this box, it's too heavy to lift myself?" I ask Brittany.

"Sure" she smiles while grabbing the other side of the box. We then carry it into the house and take it upstairs to the bedroom.

"I'm guessing this box is filled with shoes or something since it's so heavy?" I ask.

"Your guess is right" Brittany smiles. "So where can I put my shoes?" she asks.

"Let's just leave the box here and I'll see how much room there's going to be in the closet" I say. "We can unpack it all later, let's just concentrate on getting everything out of the cars and van first" I say and Brittany nods.

"Do you know I can't wait for tonight, I'm so excited to finally live here" Brittany says.

"No doubts then?" I ask.

"No definitely not. I'm 100% sure of us moving in together" she replies.

"Good" I smile while leaning towards her to kiss her.

"Hey what do you say we stay up here for ten minutes and let everyone else unload the last few boxes?" Brittany suggests.

"It sounds a bit unfair but I love it" I smile.

"Do you love anything else right now?" she questions while moving closer to me.

"I do actually" I say wrapping my arms around her waist. Just as I lean in to kiss Brittany again, we're interrupted.

"Really girls" Eva shakes her head. "We're the ones downstairs lifting boxes while you two are up here doing goodness knows what" she says.

"I don't understand why everyone is making such a big deal about everything, there's not even that many boxes to move" I say.

"Exactly, believe it or not I don't actually own all that much" Brittany says.

"The quicker the boxes are moved, the quicker we can all go home and you two can unpack and do whatever else it is you want to do" Eva says.

* * *

Brittany's POV

Mostly everyone is away home now because we've managed to get all of my things inside. I'm just in the middle of having a conversation with my parents before they leave.

"Honey you know I like Santana but are you sure about this?" my mom asks. "It's a big step moving out of your parent's house and being more independent but it's an even bigger step moving in with someone you love" she says.

"Mom I'm going to be fine, I promise" I reassure her.

"I know but you're still at uni right now so it's going to be tough moneywise especially when you're only working part time" she says. "It's not like you're just renting an apartment with friends, you're actually living with someone and will have to pay for the upkeep of the house."

"Trust me mom I know what I'm doing" I say. "I'm not your little girl anymore" I tell her.

"Oh honey you'll always be my little girl" my mom smiles.

"Honestly mom everything is going to be ok and if it's not then I'll talk to you about it so you don't need to worry" I reassure her.

"Ok well make sure you do talk to me because your dad and I are always here to help" my mom replies.

"I know that mom" I smile. "I bet you weren't like this when Scott left home" I say.

"No I wasn't; I was a lot worse" she replies. "At your age Scott wasn't as responsible as you so it was worrying when he said he was moving out and going to rent an apartment with friends but luckily now he's a lot more responsible and has his own place."

"One thing for sure is I won't be coming to you every few days to get my laundry done like Scott did, I can handle that myself" I tell her.

"I know" my mom smiles. "You're growing up a lot faster than I can handle I think" she says.

"What just because I can do my own washing?" I laugh.

"No I mean in general. You're in a serious relationship, you're moving out, you've got a job, and it's all moving so fast. It was just like yesterday that I was bringing you home from the hospital" she tells me.

"I know but it's not like you won't see me, I'll come and visit you all the time" I tell her.

"I know but it's not the same as living with you" my mom says.

"I thought you'd be glad to have a more peaceful house, I mean look at this way two out of four kids have left home so once you get rid of the other two you and dad will have the place to yourselves" I state.

"That will seem even more strange, it's been a long time since it was just your dad and I" she sighs.

"You and dad are ok right?" I ask concerned.

"Of course we are, I'm just getting emotional because it's hard seeing you leave home. I'm used to having a full house so I'm just saying it's going to be hard when all of you leave" she admits.

"I see" I nod understanding. I guess it would be kind of sad to have your kids in the house for so long and then suddenly they move out.

"Hey is everything ok?" Santana asks coming over to us.

"Everything is fine, I'm just acting like a panicked parent again but Brittany has assured me everything will be ok" my mom replies.

"There you are Brittany, I was looking for you" my dad says coming over to us.

"Hey dad, what's up?" I ask.

"Before we leave, your mom and I need to give you your house warming present" my dad says while getting an envelope out of his pocket and handing it to me. "You can open it you know" he says when he notices me hesitating.

"I know" I say before opening the envelope. "Are you guys serious?" I ask in shock.

"What's wrong babe?" Santana asks.

"My parents just gave me two thousand dollars" I say still in shock.

"That's more than your grandparents gave us when we first moved in together but we wanted you to have something because it is a lot to live on your own" my dad replies.

"I'm not alone, Santana is here" I state.

"We meant alone together plus Santana will be used to just taking care of herself moneywise so it's going to be a lot different now so if you are ever struggling you can always come to us and we'll help out" my dad says.

"Dad we'll be fine, it's not as if I have no job. I just can't work fulltime because of uni but I'm still making money" I state.

"We know but we just want to make sure you've got enough to begin with" my mom says.

"Well thank you anyway" I say before hugging them both.

"Anyway we should go now and leave you two to unpack" my dad says. "We'll speak to you soon I'd imagine" he says.

"Yeah" I nod before seeing them out. As soon as they leave, I join Santana in the living room again. "So now that all the boxes are here, we're going to have to unpack them and decide where I'm putting all of my things" I tell her.

"I know but first, I want to show you something" she says while leading me towards the small room next to the dining room. "Now you've probably only ever seen in this room once or twice before because I used it for storage of everything that I didn't have a place for but now I've cleared it out" she says while opening the door.

"Wow it looks so much bigger in here now" I point out.

"Now its way too small for a bedroom or anything but I thought we could use it as an office or study. I mean I usually just do all my paperwork in the living room on the sofa or in the kitchen since it was just me living here but I figured you wouldn't want my mess all over the place so I thought I could do it in here now" she states. "Also I thought if you had a lot of essays or whatever to write then you could come in here where it's quiet and you'd be able to study" she tells me.

"That sounds like a good idea" I reply.

"Also I've managed to clear out a whole section of the closet for you in the master bedroom so if you want I can take you through how I usually organise the closet" she says.

"I hadn't really thought on how I was going to organise my stuff, I was just going to hang it all up" I reply. "I mean I always keep my clothes tidy but I can't say I like to organise them a certain way or anything."

* * *

Santana's POV

"It's official, you now live here" I smile while looking at Brittany.

"That I do" Brittany smiles back. All the unpacking is done so we're just resting in the living room exhausted. Neither one of us had much energy to cook dinner so we just settled with eating sandwiches.

"Do you think you'll get used to it pretty quickly?" I ask.

"Yeah I think I will because I've stayed here quite a lot recently so I don't think it'll be that much different" she replies. It's true, the last few weeks we've probably spent every night together whether it was here or I stayed at her parent's house.

"Yeah probably not" I agree.

"I think I'm going to head upstairs to bed now actually" Brittany says. "Are you coming babe?" she asks.

"Not right now because it's still early, I think I'm going to watch some more TV before bed" I reply.

"Sorry let me rephrase that, I'm going upstairs now to bed but I'm not going to sleep" she tells me.

"Ok…that's great" I smile.

"I'm going to be naked Santana" Brittany elaborates.

"I don't know why you'd want to do that, you'll just get cold" I tell her.

"Do you know what, forget it" she mutters while walking away.

"Babe wait, I'm just messing" I laugh while following her. "I knew what you meant all along, I just wanted to see what you'd do" I tell her. I can't help but wind her up sometimes because her reaction is so cute.

"So you're coming then?" she asks.

"I'll be coming very soon" I smirk.

"I guess we better hurry up and go upstairs then" she says while going upstairs and I follow her.

The minute we get to the bedroom, I throw my t-shirt off and pull Brittany's over her head. I then wrap my arms around her waist and lean in to kiss her. As the kiss heats up, I feel Brittany's hands on my jeans where she unbuttons them and pulls the zipper down. We then pull away for a second so I can step out of them and Brittany can lose her pants also so we're just left in our underwear. I lean in and kiss her again before she starts to walk us over to the bed where I lie down and Brittany quickly straddles me. She leans in and kisses me before beginning to kiss down towards my abdomen and back up again.

"Wow baby, you're so wet already" I point out when I feel her panty clad core brush my leg.

"I know" Brittany moans while continuing to kiss me. The minute I heard her moan, I instantly got harder.

"You're so sexy" I say while pulling her closer to me and kissing her. Then as soon as I flip us over, I grip the waistband of her panties and swiftly pull them down before pulling her up towards me again so I can remove her bra. We kiss a few more times before I get rid of my own underwear.

"Trust me, I'm not the sexiest person here" Brittany says licking her lips while staring at my body. I smile before leaning back down to kiss her. As the kiss begins heating up, I move my hand down to her core and slowly drag my finger over her folds to make sure she's wet enough. "Babe" she moans when I remove my hand.

"Sorry, I'm just checking you're ready" I reply.

"I am, trust me I'm ready for you" she smiles.

"Ok" I nod before moving towards her entrance where I slowly insert inside of her.

"Uh" Brittany moans as I fill her up.

"I love how tight you are" I state as I begin to slowly pull back out before thrusting back in again.

"Fuck" Brittany pants out of breath while gripping my waist tightly.

"You like that?" I ask but she doesn't verbally answer, she just nods while closing her eyes tightly together. "I'll pull out if you don't answer" I tease.

"Yes" she almost screams, "yes I like it but I want you to keep moving" she states.

"Ok" I nod before kissing her and then begin to speed up my thrusts. It really doesn't take us long before we're both coming together.

"Shit, I've left nail dents on your hips" she says.

"It's ok, they'll go away in a second" I tell her.

"Ok" she smiles while wrapping her arms around me as I lie next down next to her on the bed.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Saturday 30th June 2018

"How does it feel to wake up in your new home with me right next to you?" I ask as I turn around to notice Brittany just waking up.

"It feels so good" Brittany smiles.

"It feels good to have you lying next to me" I say smiling back.

"So have you got any plans for today?" she asks.

"No not really, have you?" I ask.

"I don't think so but I was thinking since its Saturday today and I've officially moved in then why don't we have a house warming party or something tonight. I mean it doesn't need to be anything big, we can just invite some friends over and have fun" Brittany suggests.

"Yeah we could do that, it'd could be our way of thanking them for helping out yesterday" I reply.

"Yeah exactly" she says. We don't really do much for the rest of the day apart from text our friends to tell them about tonight and what time they should come over.

"So what's tonight all about?" Tina asks.

"We just thought it might be nice to just hang out and have something to eat" I say.

"Yeah and the pizza is on us, it's our way of thanking you guys for helping yesterday" Brittany adds.

"Ok, cool" Tina says.

"I'll go and order the pizza then and maybe you could sort out some drinks for everyone" Brittany says.

"Yeah that's fine babe" I say while going to get everyone some drinks. As soon as Brittany orders the pizza, we sit and chat for a while and catch up. "Hey where did Quinn go?" I ask noticing she hasn't been in the room for some time now.

"I don't know" Kitty shrugs.

"I'll go and see where she is and if she's ok" I say while standing up to go and find Quinn. "Hey what's wrong?" I ask when I see her standing in the kitchen alone.

"Santana I'm late" she replies.

"Late for what, it's only seven thirty in the evening" I say confused.

"No not late to be somewhere, late as in…late" she says.

"Oh…um…ok" I say completely shocked. I didn't know Quinn was even involved with anyone at the moment. "How late?" I ask.

"It's only a few days but I'm never late, I'm always on time" she replies.

"I see" I nod. "If you don't mind me asking who is the father if you are pregnant?" I ask.

"I'd rather not talk about it right now" she says.

"Ok well don't panic just yet, I mean if it's only a few days then it's not really a proper indication because these things happen all the time" I say trying to reassure her.

"I know but like I say, I am always exactly on time" she snaps.

"Look the only way to be sure is to take a pregnancy test or better still go to the doctor" I state.

"I know but what if I am just late and I end up making a fool of myself by going to the doctor and she tells me I'm not" Quinn says.

"I would think doctors are used to that plus it would be highly unprofessional of them to make you feel embarrassed" I state.

"I just…"

"Sorry to interrupt your private conversation but the pizza is here so I just need to grab my purse to pay the delivery guy" Brittany states.

"There's money on the table there if you want to just use that" I say.

"Ok thanks, I'll pay you back later since we were going to split it" she says.

"You don't have to but if you want to then ok" I reply.

"Ok well I'll um…leave you both to it" she says before leaving.

"Hey why don't we go back through and get some pizza. Just take your mind off it for tonight and have fun and then we can talk tomorrow if you want" I suggest.

"Ok" Quinn nods and we go to the living room to join everyone else.

"I hope you two weren't secretly making out in that kitchen behind Brittany's back" Puck states.

"You're not funny Puck" I glare. "Plus Quinn could never get someone like me. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm way out of Quinn's league" I say while nudging her to try and cheer her up.

"I would have said Brittany was way out of your league Santana so I have no idea how you ended up with her" Rachel says.

"Come on Berry, I've let you into my house so the least you could do is be pleasant to me" I state.

"What's your problem with Santana anyway because it's getting a bit old now" Brittany asks.

"I don't know, she just carries this arrogance around" Rachel replies and everyone turns around to look at her. "What?"

"Pot and kettle Rachel" Brittany says.

"I'm not arrogant" Rachel states confidently.

"Come on Rachel, you can be at times" Brittany says.

"Oh whatever, let's just eat shall we" Rachel says. "Wait a second, there is a vegan option right?" she questions.

"Yes there is, I made sure we ordered one" Brittany replies and Rachel nods.

XXX

"Is everything ok with Quinn, you girls look like you were having a serious discussion about something when I interrupted" Brittany asks as we lie in bed together. Our friends all went home a while ago.

"Yeah she'll be ok, she just needed to talk to me about something" I reply. "I think she just needed to tell someone about it to get her head around things but she should be ok" I say.

"She just seemed quiet all night and that wasn't like her so I just wondered if she was ok" she smiles.

"Yeah I'm sure she will be" I say.

"Ok cool" Brittany nods. "Anyway I should be going to sleep now because I've got an extra shift at work tomorrow" she says while getting comfortable in bed.

"Wait you're working tomorrow?" I ask surprised.

"Yeah, did I not say earlier?" she asks and I shake my head. "Well they phoned me this morning and asked if I could cover a shift and I figured why not, its extra money right?"

"Yeah I suppose it is" I say.

"Anyway goodnight babe" she leans up to kiss me before lying down again.

"Yeah goodnight" I reply.

* * *

That's it for chapter 1, let me know what you think. You'll find out how the proposal went down in the next chapter, I just wanted to set the scene for the story first with this chapter. I've already started working on chapter 2 so it should be up within the next few days.


	2. Engaged

Thanks for the reviews, follows and favourites. Here's the next chapter.

* * *

Chapter 2: Engaged?

Santana's POV

Saturday 21st July 2018

Brittany and I have been living together for four weeks now and everything seems to be going well. The only problem is that I feel like I haven't seen her all that much recently, she always seems to be working or have the day off when I'm working. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind her working all the time if that's what she wants but a part of me wonders is she is doing it because she feels she needs to make more money now that she's living with me. I mean I have no problems paying the bulk of our bills just now because I know she's studying so she can't work as much but I think Brittany is too proud to say anything sometimes and feels bad that she can't contribute as much as I can.

"Hey" Brittany seductively smiles as she walks over to me from the bathroom.

"Mm someone looks sexy" I say while moving to kneel on the bed.

"I've got to look good for my girlfriend" Brittany tells me while coming closer to the bed where I wrap my arms around her neck.

"Trust me you look good no matter what you wear" I say and she leans in to kiss me gently on the lips while gripping my hips.

"I can totally see right down your top" she smirks.

"Oh you can, can you?" I smile.

"Yup" she nods before kissing me again.

"So I was thinking since it's such a nice day today then maybe we could go for a romantic picnic in the park or something, I mean it'll be our first day off together in a while?" I suggest.

"I'm sorry babe but I can't, I'm working again this afternoon" she replies.

"Again?" I question. "This must be the third weekend in a row where you've worked both Saturday and Sunday."

"I know but they offered me some extra shifts again and I thought I might as well take them when I can" Brittany replies.

"I don't mind you working extra shifts but I feel like we haven't had a day off together in almost a month" I state.

"I know and I promise we'll have a full day to spend together soon" she reassures me.

"Ok but just make sure you're not working too hard and you're getting yourself stressed" I tell her.

"I'm not, I just feel I could use some extra money so if I have free time then I'm going to try and work" she replies.

"Britt I hope you're not doing this because I paid for most of the bills this month because I don't mind doing it. I've told you before I'm happy keeping things in order just now and once you've graduated and got a full time job then we can split it or whatever" I say.

"I promise you, I'm not doing this because of that" she smiles before leaning in to kiss me. "You just have to relax ok" she says.

"Ok, I'm sorry" I say. "I just feel I'm ten steps ahead of you sometimes and I don't want to rush you with anything."

"Santana it was my idea to officially move in so you're not rushing me into anything so you just have to trust me ok?" she says and I nod.

"Good, now I need to go and shower before work" she says while walking towards the bathroom. "You know, I do have some time if you want to join me" she says turning around to look at me.

"I'm hardly going to say no to that" I smile while following her to the bathroom.

* * *

Brittany's POV

Wednesday 25th July 2018

Santana is working today and I've finally got the day off so I thought I might as well catch up with Emma for a while. We're just hanging out at my parent's house since Emma still lives with them.

"Mom says you've been crazy busy with work lately, what's going on?" Emma asks me as she sits down next to me and hands me a cup of coffee.

"Nothing is going on, they just offered me some extra shifts and I thought I should just take them because they're not always going to have extra shifts for me and I only work part time as it is" I reply.

"Do you know what I think?" Emma says.

"I don't actually but I'm guessing you're going to tell me anyway" I reply.

"I think you're just doing this because you feel like you're depending on Santana and you don't want to do that. You want to have your own money and be able to use it when you need to" Emma says.

"Ok I admit I am taking on extra shifts for money but I'm not doing all these extra shifts because I want to help around the house" I say.

"You're not?" Emma asks.

"Well yeah I am sort of because I do want to contribute to paying the bills and stuff but I mean my main reason for doing all these shifts is I want to buy Santana an engagement ring" I say and Emma looks shocked.

"Wow…ok…I did not see that coming" she says.

"I think I'm finally ready now to be officially engaged" I smile.

"That's great but what is the difference between now and when Santana asked you a year ago?" Emma asks.

"Because I've had time to think and I mean Santana said we could wait as long as I wanted for us to get married so why not at least just wear the ring properly now instead of around my neck" I say.

"I'm confused as to how you two left things once Santana proposed" she states.

"Well…"

Flashback ( _Saturday 24_ _th_ _June 2017)_

 _"_ _We've been together a while now, almost a year and a half right?" Santana says._

 _"_ _We have and I've got to say it's been a pretty good year and a half" I smile. Even though this is probably my first proper relationship, I know we have something so special together and I don't think I could feel this way about anyone but Santana. ._

 _"_ _Exactly, which is why I think it's clear we're meant to be together and why I feel so confident we will be together forever" she says and I smile again because it's so true. "You're the only person I feel I can be myself around and who loves me no matter what. I don't think I could picture myself with anyone but you."_

 _"_ _I feel the same" I agree._

 _"_ _I love you so much Britt and I'll never stop loving you" she tells me._

 _"_ _I love you too" I reply._

 _"_ _I feel like we're at a time in our lives and our relationship where we could take the next step so I want to ask you something Britt" she says._

 _"_ _Um…ok" I reply looking a little confused at what she means. Before I can even say anything else, I notice Santana drop to the floor on one knee. "What's going on?" I gasp as she opens a small jewellery box and holds it out to me._

 _"_ _Brittany Pierce, will you marry me?" she asks. I'm in complete shock, I don't know what to say because I never expected her to propose to me._

 _"_ _Um…I don't know…I mean…words…I'm lost" ok I'm not making any sense. "I don't know what to say" I whisper to her._

 _"_ _Just say yes or no" Santana says nervously._

 _"_ _It's not that simple" I reply._

 _"_ _Well what are you thinking then?" she asks._

 _"_ _I'm definitely not saying no but at the same time I'm not saying yes either" I say._

 _"_ _I don't understand" Santana says confused._

 _"_ _It's not that I don't see marriage in our future because I do, I just don't know if I'm ready yet" I admit._

 _"_ _I'm not saying we need to get married any time soon" she says hopefully._

 _"_ _Ok but still I just feel even being engaged is a big step too and I don't know if I'm ready for that yet either. I mean I'm only 19 and to be honest the thought of being engaged really scares me right now" I tell her honestly._

 _"_ _Um…could you maybe pretend you've said yes just for two seconds" Santana says looking around. "Everyone is staring at me and I'm extremely embarrassed right now. I look like a fool kneeling down here only to be rejected" she says and I immediately feel bad._

 _"_ _Let's just get the check and talk back at your house ok" I suggest and Santana quickly stands up. We grab our things and head over to one of the waiters and Santana hands him some money and then we make our way over to the door._

 _"_ _Wait, what about your change?" the waiter asks._

 _"_ _Keep it" Santana says and we walk out. "Ok that was so fucking embarrassing in there, did you see them all staring at me like I was an idiot?"_

 _"_ _Babe you're not an idiot" I tell her._

 _"_ _I must be to think proposing was a good idea" she says shaking her head while walking quickly to the car. "Seriously what the hell was I thinking" she states before getting into her car and slamming the door shut. I then get into the car as well._

 _"_ _Honey stop beating yourself up, I'm honoured you asked me so it's not like…"_

 _"_ _Do you want me to just take you home?" she asks completely cutting me off._

 _"_ _No we're going back to your place and we're going to talk about this" I state. "I know you're embarrassed but I'm not going to let you hide away, we should talk about it" I tell her._

 _"_ _Fine" Santana sighs before driving off. The entire car journey back to her house is filled with the most awkward silence ever. I would probably make her feel worse if I said anything so I decided just to sit quietly until we arrived. "Ok let's talk then" Santana says as we take a seat in the living room._

 _"_ _Look I feel really bad for making you feel humiliated in the restaurant but I couldn't just say yes when I don't know" I tell her._

 _"_ _I don't understand Brittany, you've always said you wanted to get married and stuff" she sighs._

 _"_ _I do want to get married but…"_

 _"_ _But just not to me?" she shrugs._

 _"_ _Santana you need to calm down, you're taking everything to heart and overreacting" I say._

 _"_ _I'm sorry but I feel so stupid right now. I had the whole night planned out and never once did I imagine it going like this. Everyone in that restaurant will be laughing at me, I'll never be able to go there again because all the staff will think I'm a pathetic idiot" she says._

 _"_ _Santana you're not an idiot" I tell her while taking her hand in mine. "Listen to me, I want to marry you ok but right now I don't think I'm there yet. It feels too much for me right now" I say honestly._

 _"_ _I wasn't going to whisk you off to Vegas tonight or anything. I didn't mean we needed to get married right away, it could have been whenever you wanted" Santana replies. "I wasn't going to pressure you into a wedding soon or anything, I just thought we could have got engaged for the moment and we could have figured out when we could get married when the time was right" she says._

 _"_ _You're missing my point Santana, I'm not ready to be engaged. It wouldn't matter if you wanted to get married tomorrow or in five years, right now it feels too soon to even be engaged" I reply._

 _"_ _Oh" she says understanding._

 _"_ _I promise you I want a future like that with you but not right now. I'm happy with the way things are at the moment so I don't want them to change" I tell her._

 _"_ _Ok well I'm sorry, I thought we were on the same page but perhaps not" she says sadly._

 _"_ _You have nothing to feel humiliated about Santana, it should be me because we have been together a while so there was nothing wrong with you proposing. It's my fault for not being ready yet" I say._

 _"_ _Look how about I just take the ring back and we can just forget I ever asked you tonight" Santana says._

 _"_ _Babe I can't just forget something like this" I say. We can't just brush it off that she asked me to marry her because that's a big thing. I know she feels embarrassed and I don't feel ready yet but it doesn't mean it's going to be easy to forget._

 _"_ _Then what do you propose we do…sorry what do you suggest we do" Santana says realising what she said._

 _"_ _I don't think you should take it back, I think you should keep it and maybe ask me again sometime when I feel more ready" I say._

 _"_ _I don't know if that's a good idea because every time I see it, I'm always going to remember how you weren't ready and I was. It just feels weird and awkward so I'd rather just move past it all and not have to be reminded of tonight" she replies._

 _"_ _But babe this doesn't have to be a bad thing, I mean I am going to wear that ring at some point so it shouldn't remind you of anything bad, it should be a good thing" I tell her._

 _"_ _So let me just clarify this, it's not wearing the ring that's the issue, it's what being engaged means that scares you right now?" Santana asks._

 _"_ _Yeah I mean I would feel pressured into getting married if we were engaged right now but I don't have any issues with you keeping the ring until I am ready" I reply._

 _"_ _Ok how about you keep it and wear it on a necklace or something for the time being and when you feel ready then you can wear it properly?" she suggests. "There's no pressure at all, I just figured you'd know better than me when the right time to wear it is so you'd be better holding on to it" she says._

 _"_ _I could do that" I smile._

 _"_ _Actually I have a necklace you could put the ring on" Santana says while leaving the room. She comes back a minute later with a necklace in her hand. "I lost the pendant on this necklace a while ago so it's just a chain so maybe you could just wear the ring on it" she suggests._

 _"_ _Thanks" I smile while unclasping the necklace and Santana puts the ring on it._

 _"_ _We're not engaged right now but whenever you feel ready then I'll be ready ok" she tells me and I nod._

 _"_ _Come here" I say while pulling her into a hug. "You know I love you so much so there's no way I wouldn't marry you ok, it's just too much pressure from everyone else right now if we were to get engaged" I say._

 _"_ _I know you love me and I love you too" she smiles._

End of flashback.

"So you two are just girlfriends just now except you wear the ring like a necklace?" Emma asks.

"Yes exactly but hopefully after this weekend she'll be my fiancée" I say excited at the thought of us getting engaged.

"Hold on you've already got a ring for Santana?" she asks.

"I do and I'm planning to give her it on Saturday night so you need to keep it quiet" I say.

"Yeah I'm hardly going to call Santana up and tell her you're going to propose. I mean Santana and I are besties aren't we" Emma rolls her eyes.

"Just make sure you don't tell anyone then because Santana has to be the first to know, well she's the second now that I've told you but you know what I mean" I say.

"I won't tell anyone" Emma promises.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Saturday 28th July 2018

"Babe are you home?" Santana shouts as she walks through the front door after visiting her parents.

"I'm in the living room, can you come through so we can talk" I reply.

"Ok" she replies before walking into the living room. "There's nothing more nerve wracking than your girlfriend saying we have to talk" she laughs nervously.

"What?" I ask confused.

"You've been saying we need to talk for a while now, I'm just saying whenever someone says that it's not always good news" she says sceptically.

"You worry too much" I smile. "Anyway come and sit down" I say patting the empty space next to me on the couch.

"Ok" she says sitting down. "Shit you're breaking up with me aren't you and you're returning the ring" she blurts out.

"What? Of course not" I laugh.

"But you're not wearing the necklace that the ring is on and you're holding a ring box so I'm assuming you're giving me it back therefore you don't want to marry me so now you want to break up" she states. "Plus like I say you keep telling me we need to talk.

"We do need to talk but I'm not breaking up with you" I state. "And the reason I'm not wearing the necklace is because I've found another place for the ring" I say while holding up my left hand where I'm wearing the engagement ring she got me.

"Wow ok, but you're holding a ring box" she says, a mix between shocked and confused.

"That's because this is for you" I say while opening the box. "Santana Lopez will you marry me?" I ask while getting down on one knee. I can't help the smile that appears across my face because I'm so excited.

"Um…I don't think I'm ready either anymore" she replies.

"What…but…" my smile quickly changes to a frown. I don't know what to say, that completely threw me off. "You proposed to me first though" I state sadly.

"Babe I'm joking, I'm sorry" she says while quickly hugging. She obviously noticed how humiliated I looked.

"You're joking?" I question angrily.

"I'm sorry" she states. "I get it, it's too early for jokes."

"That is not even remotely funny Santana. I was genuinely so scared and not ready when you asked me and you think it's ok to joke around right now. Marriage is a big deal and you of all people should know that considering how hesitant I was when you asked me. What makes you even think I would find something like that funny, I thought…"

"My answer is yes so can I have my ring please" she smiles completely cutting me off from my rant.

"What…oh right yeah" I say when I realise I'm still holding the ring.

"I thought you would get I was trying to be light-hearted and funny but it probably is too soon so I'm sorry" she says. "I do realise it was a sensitive subject for you" she adds as she places the ring on her finger.

"It's ok, I was just taken aback. I think because I felt like that when you asked me then it was easy for me to believe you could feel like that too you know" I say.

"Yeah I realise now I shouldn't have joked but anyway let's move on because you've just gave me what looks like a really expensive engagement ring and asked me to marry you so I'm guessing we're engaged now" she smiles.

"Do you know I think you're right, we are engaged now" I smile.

"So is this why you have been working so much lately, you wanted to buy me a ring?" Santana asks admiring the ring.

"Yeah" I smile. "So what happens now?" I ask.

"Whatever you want happens now" Santana smiles. "We can tell everyone or we can wait a while and just enjoy the moment ourselves" she tells me.

"I think I want to just keep it between us for tonight and maybe tomorrow we can tell everyone" I suggest and Santana nods before leaning in to kiss me.

* * *

Santana's POV

Monday 30th July 2018

After I finished work today, I decided to go and see Quinn to see how she's doing. She booked an appointment with her doctor a few days after she told me she might be pregnant and it turns out that she was indeed pregnant. She's still acting very vague about it all so I have no idea who the father is but I just hope she has at least told him by now.

"How are you feeling today?" I ask when we sit down.

"Oh you know, I still feel like crap because I have no idea what I want to do" she replies. "I did always want children but I never thought I would get pregnant when I wasn't even with someone. It was a stupid drunken thing that meant nothing so now I'm going to end up being a single mom."

"Quinn, have you told the father yet" I say seriously because I know if it was me then I would want to know the truth if someone was having my baby.

"No, I just don't know how to tell them. What if I ruin their life?" she says.

"Can you at least tell me if I know this person, like are they a friend of ours?" I ask.

"You know this person really well" Quinn sighs.

"I do?" I say surprised. "So it must be a single friend of ours then" I say trying to think which friends of ours are single right now.

"Um…they're not actually single" she replies nervously.

"Oh Quinn" I say shaking my head.

"I know I've fucked everything up, no one's more disappointed in me than me" she says.

"You're my best friend Quinn so whatever you need I'm going to be here for you ok" I say trying to reassure her.

"It's not that simple though Santana" she says.

"How is it not?" I ask confused.

"Because it affects you more than you think" Quinn replies.

"What affects me?" I ask still confused about what she's talking about.

"Me being pregnant actually affects you more than you know" she says. "You're not going to like it when I tell you whose baby this is" she sighs.

"You're talking in riddles Quinn, none of this is making any sense. What have I got to do with your baby?" I ask.

"Just don't go crazy when I tell you who's baby it is, promise me you'll be calm and hear me out ok" she says.

"Ok" I nod.

* * *

That's it for chapter 2, let me know what you think. I like to think the first few chapters will be the calm before the storm so a little bit of drama will be coming up in later chapters.


	3. The Truth Comes Out

Thanks for all the follows, favs and reviews from last chapter.

* * *

Chapter 3: The Truth Comes Out

Santana's POV

Saturday 4th August 2018

I woke up early this morning because I couldn't sleep so I've decided I might as well just go for a run to clear my head. I haven't been out running in the morning for a while now so it might be nice to start it back up again. I might even see if Brittany wants to join me sometime but right now I don't think she will because she was up late last night.

"Hey what are you doing up so early?" Brittany asks while rubbing her eyes.

"Sorry did I wake you?" I ask.

"No…" she yawns. "I just felt the bed cold from your side and noticed you weren't in bed. What are you doing up right now, isn't it 6am or something" she asks while looking at the alarm clock.

"Yeah it is but I thought I might go for a run this morning" I reply.

"Seriously?" she questions.

"Yes, is that a problem?" I smile.

"Yeah sorta" she replies through another yawn, "I had plans for us."

"You had plans for us at 6am on a Saturday morning?" I say disbelievingly.

"As a matter of fact, I did" she says while sitting up in bed. "I thought since neither one of us is working today then we could stay in bed all day and have sex" she smiles.

"As tempting as that is, I think I'll still go for a run" I reply.

"You would rather run than have sex with me right now?" Brittany asks.

"I never said that" I say shaking my head. "I said I'm still going for a run in a few minutes but I never said I would rather do that than…well do you" I shrug.

"So why are you still going?" she asks.

"Because I haven't been running in ages and I don't get a lot of time to go to the gym on weekdays so I want to start back up running again so I can keep fit. I've sort of let myself go recently and I want to get back into shape. Plus I'll only be a few hours maximum so we have the rest of the day to stay in bed and I know you would rather be sleeping right now than doing anything else" I reply.

"Ok I guess you have a point" she nods. "I would rather go back to sleep right now than do anything else and ideally you would be lying sleeping next to me but I know you like running so it's ok."

"Hey how about I stop off and get us breakfast on the way home. I could swing by the café and get us some coffee and bagels" I say.

"Ok" Brittany smiles.

"I'll see you when I get back, ok" I say while leaning down to kiss her.

"Yeah" she smiles again before getting comfortable in bed. I then leave to go for my run.

XXX

"Hey it's just me" I shout before closing the front door and making my way to the living room. Brittany is lounging in the living room watching TV when I come limping in the door.

"Hey babe" Brittany says while briefly smiling when she turns her head away from the TV for a second before getting engrossed in her programme again.

"Oh god what a morning" I say while placing the coffees on the table and hopping to the arm chair since there is no room on the couch next to Brittany because she's lying down.

"Wait a second, are you limping?" Brittany asks while quickly sitting up straight. "Babe what happened?"

"I just strained my knee or something, no big deal" I say nonchalantly.

"No big deal?" Brittany asks raising an eyebrow. "Depending on what you've done, hurting your knee can be serious babe and you look like you're in a lot of pain" she says before kneeling in front of me at the chair.

"Honestly Brittany, I'm fine" I state.

"No you're not, now let me see if it's bruised or looks odd" she says while taking my shoe off.

"Brittany it'll be nothing, it'll go away in a minute" I say.

"Stop being so proud and let me see you're damn knee" she says seriously. "This is me you're talking to so don't be embarrassed or whatever."

"I'm not embarrassed, I just don't usually like to complain" I tell her.

"Well I am giving you permission to complain" she says.

"Fine" I sigh.

"Thank you now can you remove your pants" she says and I just look at her. "Seriously Santana, there's no way I can roll your pants up because they're too tight so you're going to have to remove them."

"Ok, I'll take them off" I reply while trying to pull them down without aggravating my knee. Once they're at my ankles, Brittany removes them for me.

"I mean it certainly doesn't look abnormal from visual inspection, maybe just a little swollen" Brittany says. "Perhaps I should put some gel on it or you could take an anti-inflammatory, do you have any NSAIDs?" she asks.

"I think I have something I could take in the bathroom upstairs" I reply.

"Ok well I'll get it for you in a second, I just want to see if your knee hurts during different movements" she states.

"Um…ok" I nod.

"Does that hurt?" she asks while gently lifting my leg and up and down. I shake my head. "What about now?" she asks while slowly bending my leg and then straightening it again.

"A little bit" I reply. For the next few minutes, Brittany tries different movements with my leg to see what hurts and what doesn't hurt to try and get a sense as to what I might have done to my knee.

"Are you actually getting turned on right now" she asks looking up at me.

"Well yeah" I deadpan. "You keep caressing my thigh so it's hard not to feel a little something."

"Santana I'm being serious here" she tells me.

"And so am I" I state. "Your fingers are mere centimetres away from my crotch and my brains knows to react whenever your hand is so close to there" I tell her. I mean I would find it pretty weird if I didn't react to her hand being so close to my crotch.

"Ok well maybe try and think of something bad so it takes your mind off it because I need to concentrate here so I don't hurt you. I read about strains and sprains in a book the other day about what kind of gentle physiotherapy you can do" she says. "I can't have you _reacting_ whenever I put my hand on your leg because if I don't concentrate I might do something wrong and make your knee worse" she tells me.

"I'll try but it certainly won't be easy" I state.

"Perhaps it would be better if you lay down then" Brittany suggests.

"Yeah maybe" I nod while hobbling onto the floor to lie down. I can't exactly say how long it's been or how it even started but Brittany is now leaning into me and kissing my neck.

"Can you sit up a bit for me, I can't get your top off" she says while gripping the bottom of my t-shirt. As soon as I sit up, she removes my shirt and then leans in again to kiss me.

"Wait maybe we should take this elsewhere, I mean I'd hate for you to get a sore back" I say.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine" she smiles. "All you have to do now is lie there and enjoy every last minute of it" she says with a smirk gracing her lips.

"Ok" I smile, slightly excited about what's to come.

XXX

"Oh shit" I scream.

"Oh you like that, huh? Does it feel good?" Brittany smiles triumphantly.

"No, I just moved my knee the wrong way" I reply and Brittany's smile quickly turns to a frown. "I mean I do like what you're doing and it does feel good but I was just screaming because I was in pain" I tell her.

"Do you want me to stop?" she asks.

"No" I shake my head, "just maybe if you could make sure I don't move my knee when you do that again" I tell her.

"Actually maybe we shouldn't do this, I really don't want to hurt you" Brittany says.

"You won't" I state.

"Santana you just screamed in pain" she says. "We probably should just make sure you rest and keep your leg elevated and perhaps ice it to get the swelling down."

"Yeah maybe you're right" I agree.

"Here let me help you onto the couch and you can lie with your feet up" she says while helping me off of the floor. "I'll go and get an ice pack for your knee, I'll be back in a second" she says while quickly kissing me before leaving. As soon as she comes back, she sit down on the couch and gently places my legs on her lap before placing the ice pack on my knee.

"Thanks for helping me" I smile.

"Your welcome" Brittany smiles back. "Hey do you think the coffees will still be warm?" she asks pointing to them on the table.

"Crap I forgot about them" I say.

"Me too but they've got a lid so I think they should still be warm just now" she says while reaching forward to get them.

"Oh honey please" I say screwing my eyes together in pain.

"What…oh my god I'm so sorry" she says finally realising she put some pressure on my knee when she leant forward. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah I'll be fine" I reassure her. For the next few moments, we just sit in silence while drinking our coffees.

"Hey have you talked to Quinn yet about whatever secret you two are keeping?" Brittany asks breaking the silence.

"Britt we're not keeping secrets, it's just she's my best friend and she doesn't want anyone to know yet about what's going on. She told me something in confidence so I don't want to hurt her by telling someone even though I know you and I shouldn't have secrets because you're my girlfriend" I say.

"Fiancée" Brittany corrects.

"Yes fiancée" I smile. "Seriously though this is a big thing for her but as soon as I'm allowed to tell someone you'll be the first to know" I tell her.

"Ok" Brittany nods.

"To be honest though there isn't a lot to tell right now because something always interrupts us when we're talking" I say. I mean the other day when we were hanging out, Quinn was just about to tell me who the father could be when I got a call from Artie so I had to rush back to work so I'm still not any clearer on what's going on.

"I guess you'll just need to try and catch up soon then and find out whatever it is that's is going on" Brittany shrugs.

"Yeah I will" I nod.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Sunday 12th August 2018

I haven't been able to speak to Quinn in over a week now about this baby drama because I've been housebound for the last week with this stupid knee and Quinn refuses to talk over the phone about it. I suggested she came over to my place and we could talk but that didn't suit her either for some silly reason so I'm hoping when we meet today for coffee then she can tell me all about it.

"Hey" Quinn says walking over to the table I'm sitting at.

"Hey" I greet her back. "I've ordered us some coffee already, I hope that's ok…actually I've ordered coffee for myself and herbal tea for you" I say.

"Yeah that's cool" Quinn smiles. "So how are you?" she asks.

"Yeah I'm ok, my knee is better now which is good" I reply.

"Are you going back to work on Monday then?" Quinn asks.

"Yeah I'm going to have to because I've missed so much work. I tried going back to work on Thursday to catch up but Brittany was having none of it so I'm going to be even more stressed come Monday because I've missed a full week" I reply.

"I'm sure Artie has been keeping things afloat while you've been gone" Quinn says.

"Yeah he has but there are certain things I need to attend to myself, you know due to confidentiality and all that" I say.

"I understand" Quinn nods. "So let me guess, Brittany has been waiting on you hand and foot for the last week?"

"Yeah she's been amazing, I know it's just a stupid knee injury but I really don't know what I would have done without her" I say. I mean she took me to the doctor to see if I had done any serious damage to my knee, she cooked for us since I couldn't really stand for too long, she did all the cleaning and she even made me rest all the time which I don't want to admit to Britt, did actually help a lot.

"I wish I had someone like that" Quinn sighs.

"Actually that brings me to my next point, when are we going to talk about this baby Quinn?" I ask.

"Will you keep your voice down?" she snaps.

"You refused to talk about it over the phone or at my house so we need to talk somewhere" I state.

"I know that but I don't want the whole café to know" she snaps again.

"Quinn please tell me who the father is because maybe I could help" I say.

"You're not going to be happy Santana" she sighs.

"So you keep saying but how do you actually know if you won't just tell me" I say.

"This isn't something I can just blurt out" she states. "If I tell this person then it could change everything for everyone" she says.

"When Quinn not if" I state.

"What?" she asks confused.

"The father needs to know so it's not a case of if you tell them, it when you tell them. Now I know it might change everything but they have a right to know" I say.

"Well if I don't want a baby then I don't necessarily need to tell the father" she says.

"You've always wanted children Quinn, the same as me so this could be your opportunity. I mean I know it's not exactly an ideal situation but this is still your baby so you have a chance here to be a mother" I tell her.

"What would you do in either position?" she asks.

"If Brittany was pregnant then I'd want to know for sure" I reply.

"No say you weren't with Brittany and it was just someone you slept with once, what would you do?" she asks.

"I'd still want to know about the baby if it was mine regardless of who was pregnant" I say. "If I was the pregnant one then I'd keep it because like I say it's not ideal but I always wanted children and that would be my chance."

"Ok" Quinn nods.

"Don't let my feelings persuade you though. I mean yes the right thing would be to tell the father but if you're not at all sure you could have a baby right now then do what you think is best. There would be no point in bringing up a baby you didn't want, it wouldn't be fair on it" I say.

"From your perspective though, you'd definitely want to know regardless of the outcomes" she says and I nod. "Even if it affected other families and relationships, you'd still want to know?" she asks.

"Yes because that child is innocent and deserves parents that love them so if both parents were willing to do that then yeah. Plus I don't think it's wise hiding something like this" I say.

"You're really not going to like what I'm going to say now but I'll tell you anyway" she says. "Do you remember that night that Kitty and Eddie organised a barbeque and invited everyone over?"

"How could I forget, I was miserable that night so I ended up getting so drunk" I say remembering back to that night and how Brittany and I got into a fight so she left early to go home. It was stupid really, it was just about the colour we were repainting the bedroom in. Brittany wanted more subtle tones whereas I just wanted to keep it the same colour I had.

"Yeah I was just as drunk as you I think" Quinn says.

XXX

Oh my god this cannot be happening right now. What Quinn said really can't be true, can it? I'm absolutely fuming with Quinn right now, I mean I know accidents happen and all that but for the love of god, this is bad. My mom is going to freak out. I can just picture her right now, _I'm too young to be a grandmother, how could you let this happen, have your dad and I not warned you about protection. Quinn is like a daughter to me so I respect her and now look, you've just cheated on the girl you love with her._

"Santana is that you?" I hear Brittany shout from upstairs as I walk in the door.

"Yeah" I reply.

"I'm in the bedroom" she shouts and I proceed upstairs.

"My stupid brother has gone and knocked up Quinn" I say storming into the bedroom where Brittany is sitting on the bed putting moisturiser on.

"I'm sorry, what now?" Brittany says shocked.

"Exactly my reaction, my idiot little brother has knocked up my best friend even though he has a girlfriend" I reply. "I don't know who I'm mad at more, my brother for being a cheat or my best friend for bedding my brother" I say angrily.

"I can't believe Eddie would do that to Kitty or better still how Quinn could do that to Kitty. I mean Quinn, you, Kitty and Tina are all best friends and yet Quinn does that to one of her best friends" Brittany states.

"Wait a second, it's not Eddie…I meant Jason" I say realising I wasn't making myself clear.

"Oh thank god" Brittany sighs in relief.

"How is that a good thing, they still cheated" I state.

"It's not a good thing but I'm just relieved there weren't any best friends involved. I mean it's still horrible what they did but at least you're not best friends with Clare because that could open a whole other can of worms" she replies.

"I suppose" I say sighing at the situation, the whole thing is just a mess now.

"How is Jason going to cope, I mean he's only 21?" Brittany asks shaking her head.

"What does age have to do with it?" I ask confused.

"Well Jason told you himself he wasn't ready for any major commitments with Clare right now so how is he going to be ready for a baby with someone he isn't actually with?" she replies.

"Yes I get that but what do you mean by he's only 21?" I ask.

"All I'm saying is I might be engaged already at twenty but I'm certainly not ready to be popping babies out left, right and centre so I very much doubt Jason will be ready" she says which shocks me a little. I didn't think we were far off having children, I mean I know we wouldn't be doing it right now but in a year's time Brittany is going to be Jason's age so is she telling me in a year she still won't be ready?

"He's just going to have to be ready I think because I can't see him walking away from it all once he knows he's going to have a child" I sigh.

"I know but how do you prepare for something like this when you're so young yourself. I mean he hasn't even finished college or moved out yet so what happens when the baby comes, I would assume it would stay with Quinn but how is Jason going to look after it because it can't be good for a baby being passed from one house to another" Brittany says.

"I think we just need to take one step at a time, we should concentrate on Jason finding out first and worry about other things later on" I say.

"Yeah" Brittany nods. "So how did it even happen then?" she asks.

"Do you want a lesson on sex baby?" I say jokingly.

"I meant how did one thing lead to another, I mean were they alone and it just happened or did they bond over something and the moment took over?" she asks. "I don't know how you can joke about this though, your mom is going to freak out" she says.

"I know she's going to freak so I'm trying to joke to take my mind off it" I say. "It most certainly isn't working though, I just don't know what we're going to do" I sigh.

"Honey come here" Brittany says putting her arm around me. "You worry about other people too much and it's starting to stress you out. I know Jason is your brother and Quinn is your best friend but you've got your own things to worry about so try and not let this get to you so much" she says.

"You would never cheat on me right?" I say while placing my head on her shoulder.

"Of course I wouldn't" she says honestly. "Even if I was drunk and we had a fight, I'd still want just you."

"Maybe I'm naive because I've never been so drunk I couldn't think properly but I just don't understand how Jason could do that to Clare, I mean they love each other" I say.

"When will Quinn talk to Jason about it all?" Brittany asks.

"I would hope if she had any sense she would do it as soon as possible but I honestly don't know because I sorta just walked out after she told me. I just couldn't handle it because I'm not sure who is at fault here or if there even is anyone to blame" I reply. "It's just so weird, my best friend and my brother you know?"

"It would feel weird for me too I think for them to even hook up never mind a pregnancy" Brittany says.

"I want answers but at the same time, I can't bear to think about any of it" I say.

* * *

That's it for chapter 3, let me know what you think. I just want to point out though, I was never going to make the baby Santana's. I feel Santana could never redeem herself if she did something like cheating in this story so there wouldn't be brittana to write anymore.


	4. Wedding Planning

I know I've already updated today but I've just finished typing this chapter so I thought I may as well just post it instead of waiting until tomorrow.

Firstly though I just want to reply to the guest reviewer who thinks I would make Brittany cheat. Why would I make a sequel to a story if I was going to make someone cheat? Basically my whole story that I have been writing would be a lie if I was going to make someone cheat, there would be no point in even beginning a sequel when what I have built up in the first story turned out to be a load of crap. Also why would you even assume Santana would be foolish enough to take back a cheater, she had a horrible first marriage so she's not going to let herself get into another. I most certainly wouldn't blame Santana if Brittany ever cheated either. I don't condone cheating in any manner anyway so if either one of them cheated then the story would be over.

Anyway here's the next chapter.

* * *

Chapter 4: Wedding planning

Santana's POV

Friday 17th August 2018

Since I finish early on Fridays, Brittany and I decided to have a late lunch and sit outside with it. It's been a busy week at work for me since I've just went back after hurting my knee so it's nice to finally relax and look forward to a free weekend. The only problem is, I can't stop thinking about what Quinn told me last weekend and it's driving me crazy, I just don't understand it. I haven't actually heard from her since she told me it was Jason's baby but I'm hoping she's told him by now because Jason has been acting really weird lately and has been meeting some 'friend' a lot so I'm hoping they're trying to discuss things about the baby.

"Honey…" Brittany says getting my attention.

"Yeah" I smile.

"I was thinking since it takes such a long time to plan a wedding then maybe we should just start making arrangements now" she suggests.

"Yeah I think you're right" I agree. It might be nice to keep my mind occupied with something other than Jason and Quinn having a baby.

"How about we start right now, I'll go and get some paper and a pen" Brittany says while running inside to the kitchen. "Right ok, where should we start?" she asks as she sits back down again with the paper and pen.

"Just start anywhere because we've not made any arrangements so far" I laugh.

"I know but is there more important decisions that we should look at first. I mean do you pick a date and organise everything around that or do you factor the date in once you've made some arrangements and know when venues and stuff will be free?" she asks.

"I think we should have a rough date in mind but be open to other possibilities, for instance we know we want it in the summer right?" I say and Brittany nods. "Ok but let's not fixate on one exact date, let's be open to a few dates in the summer" I say.

"Ok but I would like it to be in July if possible" Brittany says.

"Ok" I nod. "Perhaps today we just make a list of everything we need to do and then worry about dates and things another day. Let's just think about what needs to be sorted before we sort it" I suggest.

"I guess that makes sense, so what do we need to sort out, we've mentioned the date and the venue and we'll need to figure out a budget but what else?" she asks.

"Rings" I reply and Brittany writes that down. "Also flowers, dresses, invitations, a guest list…oh and we need to sort out bridesmaids" I say listing off the different things.

"Who do you want as bridesmaids?" she asks, looking up from what she was writing.

"Eva, Tina and Kitty obviously" I reply, "and…yeah that's it" I shrug after thinking for a moment.

"Wait a second, you don't even want Quinn as your bridesmaid?" Brittany asks. "I know things are weird between you both just now but it doesn't mean she isn't your best friend. I mean she's been a big part of your life for years so I wouldn't let one silly thing ruin that" she says.

"My brother though Brittany, why did she have to sleep with him that night?" I ask.

"I don't know but it's happened and they're having a baby so I think you should try and let things go a bit" Brittany replies.

"How can I let things go, this is going to end up tearing my family apart. Quinn is my best friend and Jason is my brother so it'd be like picking sides every time they had an argument about something or disagreed. I'm going to be caught in the middle all the time because they both mean a lot to me. It's going to make everything so awkward for me" I say.

"I understand babe but they've got it a lot harder than you" Brittany says. "They're the ones who are going to be single parents basically. Yes they'll both bring up the baby but they're not together so it's going to be really hard for them. Can you imagine having a child with someone but yet you're single and have no one to share that experience with or no one to help you?"

"Things wouldn't be so damn hard if they actually used protection or better still could actually keep their clothes on" I sigh.

"Santana please see the other side of this, people fall pregnant all the time accidentally. There is no amount of protection that can guarantee you won't get pregnant. Obviously you can reduce the risk but you're never a hundred percent protected" Brittany replies.

"You're not understanding me Brittany, they shouldn't need protection because they should never have slept together in the first place. It's all wrong on so many levels" I state.

"I know it's wrong because Jason has a girlfriend but I'm just trying to say you need to let them handle it. It's up to them if they want to go around making mistakes like that, you can't change what they've done" Brittany tells me.

"I don't even know how they could find one another attractive like that, I mean Quinn is like another sister to my siblings and I thought Jason was like a little brother to her" I say.

"It's probably been a long time since they felt like that, I mean you'll all have grown up since then. I certainly know I wouldn't feel as close to my sister's friends anymore because I barely see them. I mean some of my friends, me, my sister and some of her friends used to all hang out together when we were younger but we've all grown up now. Most of my sister's friends have boyfriends and I'm engaged" she says.

"I don't understand your point" I say confused.

"I'm just saying, it's been a long time since Quinn thought of your brother as a little brother. I bet Quinn hasn't really hung out at your parent's house since you last lived there. Also Jason isn't a young boy anymore, he's an adult so he'll not be the kid brother you two used to hang out with" she says.

"I think I sort of get your point, it probably has been a long time since they saw one another so they'll both have changed" I say. The only times they would have seen one another is probably when I've had some sort of gathering and that doesn't happen all that often.

"Exactly" Brittany nods.

"I still can't wrap my head around it though, I mean Quinn Fabray and my brother…it's still too weird whether they have seen one another recently or not" I say.

"Santana…" Brittany sighs.

"Quinn doesn't usually go for someone like Jason, he's not her type at all. I mean Jason is into sports and likes to fix things in the house whereas the people Quinn dates aren't like that. They're more into wearing suits and going to business things with fancy cars and all that stuff. To be honest they don't exactly like to get their hands dirty whereas I could see Jason fixing a car or building furniture. I definitely know when she was with Alex, Quinn was the one who fixed everything because Alex really had no clue about that kind of thing. There's definitely a comparison between the men Quinn likes and my brother so for them to even do that is just beyond…"

"I'm sorry and I love you but for goodness sake let it go" Brittany almost shouts. "Look, this is not healthy obsessing over someone else's life. I know you care about them both but they'll work it out together I'm sure so you have to let them handle this just now."

"What I can't worry about my best friend or my brother?" I ask.

"Of course you can but for the last week all we have talked about is Quinn, Jason and the baby. I just think everyone needs to butt out and let Quinn and Jason talk because it can't be helping when we're all getting involved in it" she says and I guess she has a point.

"I even find myself starting to get involved and I shouldn't because it's not my place" she says.

"You're right, I should take a step back from the situation" I admit.

"Ok" Brittany nods.

"I'm sorry I keep going on about it though" I say honestly.

"It's ok to be worried but I just think you're stressing yourself out so I just want you to relax a little more" she says before kissing me. "I love that you care so much about your family and friends though" she smiles.

"Let's just go back to wedding planning shall we" I suggest. "So who do you want as your bridesmaids?"

"Emma, Mercedes and Rachel I think" she replies. "I know Rachel can be a pain in the butt and she annoys you but she is still one of my best friends."

"I know that so I'm cool with it" I smile.

* * *

Brittany's POV

Sunday 19th August 2018

I'm just relaxing in the living room when I hear the doorbell ring so I quickly get off of the couch and answer the door.

"Oh hey Quinn, in you come" I say while opening the door.

"Thanks" she replies while stepping inside.

"How are you?" I ask politely.

"Yeah I'm ok" she smiles sadly. "Is Santana here because I need to talk to her?"

"Yeah she's upstairs, I'll go and get her for you. Why don't you make yourself comfortable in the living room?" I reply.

"Thanks but I'm not staying for long so I'll just wait here" she says.

"Ok, I won't be a minute then" I say while running upstairs to get Santana. "Babe, where are you?" I shout at the top of the stairs to see which room Santana is in.

"I'm in the bedroom" she replies so I walk into our bedroom. "Hey babe, what's up?" she smiles.

"Quinn is downstairs and she wants to talk to you for a moment" I reply.

"Oh…I see" she says, her smile quickly disappearing. "I guess I should go down and talk to her then" she says and I nod.

"I don't know what it's about but I'm guessing it's important and probably about the baby" I say and Santana agrees.

"Hey" Quinn says nervously when Santana approaches her.

"Quinn" Santana replies coldly.

"I just thought you should know that I talked to Jason again today and once he's told Clare, we're going to tell everyone else" Quinn says. "Even though this is a tricky situation, you were right that I did always want children so this is my chance plus Jason wants to be involved so we're going to tell everyone as soon as possible."

"I think it's about time" Santana says. "You two were having too many secret conversations about the baby so it's well overdue that Clare should know about this. It's going to break her heart but she deserves to know the truth."

"We weren't having secret conversations, we were just trying to decide what to do for the best. We both want this baby because it's ours but at the same time neither one of us expected to be in the other's life. I thought I would have a husband first and I imagine Jason thought he'd be older and married as well when he had children" Quinn says.

"Why would you and Jason ever sleep together?" Santana asks.

"That's actually none of you damn business Santana" Quinn snaps. "I didn't ask you why you slept with any of the people that you previously slept with so why are you asking me?"

"Perhaps I'm asking because he's my brother" Santana glares.

"He is your brother but he's also 21 and has his own mind so it wasn't all my decision that night" Quinn states.

"I never said it was all you but since it's just you that's standing in front of me right now then I'm asking you why the hell you two thought it was a great idea to have sex" Santana says angrily.

"Look I just thought you would want to know what we had decided but I'm not here to explain my personal business to you so I think I'll just leave now" Quinn says while turning to walk out the door. "I actually thought you could handle something without acting like a child but perhaps I'm mistaken" she says while leaving.

"Call me when you've tore my family apart" Santana shouts but I quickly slam the door shut before Quinn can hear her.

"That's enough Santana. I know you're mad but Quinn is pregnant and vulnerable so we can't pile anymore stress onto her because it could harm the baby. She needs people around her right now and I'd imagine Jason does too so we need to support them" I say.

"Whatever" Santana says waving it off.

"What did we just talk about two days ago?" I ask and Santana shrugs. "I thought you were going to let them handle things without you getting too involved. You said you agreed with me so what's changed now?" I ask.

"Can you please not talk to me like I'm a child?" she asks.

"I don't mean it to sound like that but I do think you're making things worse for yourself. Sometimes we all just need to back off and let other people make their own choices and make their own mistakes" I say.

"You don't tell me how involved I can get with my own family" she glares.

"Excuse me but we're engaged now so I would imagine their my family too and more to the point, I'm not telling you what to do with regards your family, I'm just saying it's not your mistake that's been made so maybe take a step back" I tell her. "I didn't say don't get involved, I meant just let them have a moment to think and allow them to do what they think is best."

"I don't think you can judge this situation unless you're in it and as far as I'm aware you're not" she states.

"Yes and neither are you" I snap.

"I am in it because it's my brother and my best friend" she snaps back.

"The key words there are 'brother' and 'best friend' therefore there is no you" I state. "You weren't the one who cheated and you're not the one having a baby so I do believe you need to let them handle things their way."

"How about we agree to disagree on this matter because I can't see either one of us changing how we feel or interpret the situation so maybe let's just not talk about it right now" Santana suggests.

"If that's what you want then fine because I don't want to fight about something that doesn't directly involve us or our relationship" I say.

"We'll move on for the moment then?" she asks.

"Yes I think we should" I reply.

* * *

Santana's POV

"Your phone is ringing babe" Brittany says while handing me my cell.

"Oh thanks" I smile while taking the phone while Brittany goes back to clearing up the plates from dinner. "Hello" I answer.

"Did you know about this Santana?" my mom asks not even bothering to say hello.

"Know about what mom?" I sigh.

"Quinn and Jason getting up to all sorts and now she's pregnant with my first grandbaby" she says.

"They weren't up to all sorts, they just had sex once mom" I say rolling my eyes.

"Did you know?" she asks again.

"I found out recently, yes" I reply.

"And you couldn't call me and tell me?" she questions.

"Mom it wasn't my place to say anything. It is Jason you should be mad at for not telling you right away, not me" I state.

"Oh believe me, Jason knows how mad I am" my mom replies.

"Mom…what have you done?" I ask sceptically.

"Let's just say your brother won't be very social in the upcoming weeks since I've took away his laptop and phone" she replies.

"Are you kidding mom?" I sigh while shaking my head. "He's 21 and he needs that computer for work" I state.

"Are you questioning my parenting skills Santana Lopez?" she asks sternly.

"No mom but I wouldn't say taking away someone's phone and computer is effective when he's got someone pregnant. It's not like he can work off a punishment or something. I mean he's not just got in trouble at school or something so it's not something you get punished for" I state.

"I know that but it makes me feel better knowing he hasn't got his gadgets to play with" she replies.

"Oh dear god mom" I say laughing at her expression.

"I don't know how you can laugh right now" she states. "There is nothing funny about cheating or having a baby with someone you're not even with. I don't know how Quinn and Jason are going to work out any of this, I mean what about living arrangements or childcare?"

"Mom this isn't exactly something you and I should be discussing, it should be you and Jason" I say. I know I've had my fair share of input recently but at the end of the day, we should be asking Jason some of this stuff now that everything is out in the open.

"It's Clare I feel sorry for, I mean she has done nothing to deserve this. I know Jason is my son and I will support him but you can't get away from the fact it was a stupid thing to do" my mom says.

"You don't need to tell me that mom" I say agreeing.

"I really wish you would have said something sooner though Santana because Quinn is almost 12 weeks pregnant now" she says reiterating her point from a while ago.

"For the second time mom, it wasn't my place" I state annoyed.

"The secret was kept too long though Santana, don't you think?" she asks.

"Yes mom I do" I sigh.

"You usually aren't too shy in letting everyone know how you feel so I'm surprised you kept quiet" she states.

"I beg your pardon?" I say annoyed.

"Come on sweetheart, you're the oldest child and you used to tattle on your siblings all the time. If they did something wrong you were the first to alert me and even tell me how they should be punished" my mom replies.

"This isn't like breaking a vase or not doing chores mom, this is a serious issue that wasn't mine to tell" I state for what feels like the tenth time already. "Look mom, Brittany needs me right now so I'm going to have to go but I'll talk to you later in the week, ok" I say.

"Oh, ok. Goodnight then sweetheart" she replies.

"Yeah goodnight mom" I say before hanging up. As soon as I hit the end call button, I let out a loud sigh of relief because that phone call was torture.

"I didn't need you babe" Brittany says confused.

"I know but I had to say something to get off the phone with my mom" I state. "She kept asking me if I knew about Quinn and Jason and why I didn't tell her the minute I found out."

"I see" Brittany nods understanding.

"I really can't win with that bitch" I sigh.

"Come on, don't call your mom a bitch" Brittany says laughing.

"I obviously don't actually mean it but what makes her think I should tell her?" I ask.

"Probably because she knows Jason wouldn't have the balls to do it right away whereas you would" she replies.

"Is that so?" I ask laughing.

"Yeah I mean you don't take any nonsense and you're not afraid of your mom like he is…no offence to Jason of course" she says. "God forbid you ever do something like that but if you did I know you'd own up to it right away and explain to your parents what happened."

"You don't have to worry, I wouldn't do something like that" I state honestly. "Eventually I'll forgive Quinn and Jason because I care about them and Quinn is my best friend and Jason is my brother but this isn't something a partner can forgive so I assume Clare and Jason are over" I say.

"I know exactly what you mean" Brittany agrees.

"Anyway I guess we just need to wait and see what happens next" I say.

"Yeah I think you're right" she nods.

* * *

Brittany's POV

Saturday 25th August 2018

I've been doing more wedding planning this morning because Santana and I haven't had a chance to do much through the week so I've been looking at lots of things all morning. I think I've found someone that could do the cake for us because Mercedes said her cousin recommended them and someone at work said they used the same company as well so I'm hoping once they return my call then we can sort something out. I think I may have also found the perfect colour to go for with the bridesmaids dresses so providing we find the perfectly styled dresses in that colour then that could be another thing sorted.

"Who do you think should walk down the aisle first?" I ask.

"I don't know, does it matter really who goes first?" Santana replies.

"It does if we want to make arrangements because we're going to need to know who is walking when before the rehearsal dinner" I state.

"Brittany that will be a long time away so I don't think we need to worry about the schedule of who walks when right now" Santana says.

"Ok we can discuss that later then" I say. "So about the tables, how many people do you think we should sit at eat table and do you think we should mix the families at the reception or have set tables for certain people. I mean should I have all my family around one table or should I have some of my family and some of yours so they get a chance to meet?" I ask.

"We could have either" Santana replies. "I wouldn't suppose it would make much difference either way."

"We'll need to be careful about where Rachel sits, I mean yes I love her but she could cause some serious tension if sat next to the wrong person" I state. "That brings me onto another point, who should baby Fopez sit with?"

"I beg your pardon?" Santana asks confused.

"It's a mashup of Fabray and Lopez, I thought it was cute. Anyway I was talking about Jason and Quinn's baby because it will be here by then so who should look after the baby if Quinn is a bridesmaid. I guess Jason could do it but I wasn't sure if Quinn would want to be sitting near the baby as well so we'll need to make sure Jason and Quinn sit close by" I say.

"I'm sure we'll sort it" Santana says while yawning.

"Do you know you have as much interest in this wedding as a stranger" I sigh.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Santana questions.

"Anything I say you don't really want to talk about or you just look disinterested" I say. "I'm assuming you did actually have the intention of having an actual wedding when we got engaged."

"Brittany I'm not in the mood for your sarcasm so just don't go there please" she sighs.

"Santana this is my first wedding, I've never been married before" I state. "I know you've did it before but you could at least participate a little more in this" I tell her.

"I'm trying babe but you're overanalysing every little detail there is" she replies. "Just pick any damn centrepiece that you like for crying out loud" she sighs. I'm guessing she's talking about earlier when I kept asking her what centrepiece she thought was best.

"I want our wedding to be special" I state.

"And I don't?" she questions.

"I never said that but I could do with some help in all of this. All you seem to want to do is drink coffee and watch television" I state.

"Brittany I have had a hard week at work so I'm entitled to a rest on a Saturday afternoon" she replies. "Just let me finish my coffee and then we can look at the invitation samples we have, ok?"

"No not ok, I've already told you I'm not worried about the invitations right now. I'm more concerned at looking at dates for the wedding because they need to coincide with your days off at work and my summer break from college. If we want to go on a honeymoon then they need to suit everyone because I can't miss any days of college" I tell her.

"Ok well I'll get my diary out once I'm finished my coffee and we can sort that" she replies. "Listen babe you need to relax a little more because you're causing arguments when you don't need to"

"No you _listen babe_ , this needs to be sorted as soon as possible because I have a big week at college coming up so I'd feel more comfortable knowing some details are sorted before I get stressed out with coursework" I state.

"Brittany I wasn't being cheeky when I said 'listen babe', I was trying to calm you down so there's no need to mock me" she rolls her eyes.

* * *

Uh-oh, things are beginning to get stressful. Anyway that's it for chapter 4, let me know what you think. I'm hoping to get updated again soon because I've got a lot of ideas for this story right now.


	5. Getting Busier

Thanks for the follows, favs and reviews from last chapter. Hope you like this next one.

* * *

Chapter 5: Getting Busier

Santana's POV

Sunday 26th August 2018

Ever since our fight over the wedding yesterday, Brittany and I haven't really spoken much. Brittany spent most of the afternoon in the study going over things for the wedding and I decided it was best to give her some space. When it came around to dinner time, we did both eat together but we didn't really talk much and there was some awkwardness between us. I'm now just getting ready to go for a run to try and clear my head a bit.

"Morning" I say when I notice Brittany waking up.

"Yeah…morning" Brittany replies quietly.

"Did you sleep ok?" I ask.

"Not really, I was awake half of the night feeling guilty for my behaviour yesterday. I was acting a bit immature but this is all new to me and as you already know I don't deal well with pressure" she replies.

"I was probably partly to blame as well, I haven't exactly showed a great interest in this wedding but it's not because I don't want to, it's just because I'm not going to let it stress me out" I tell her. "I remember what it was like planning my first wedding so I don't want it to turn out like that, it's supposed to be a happy occasion planning a wedding as well as actually getting married" I say.

"How about today we just take the day off from any plans and I'll take you out to lunch instead, it's my way of apologising for acting how I did yesterday" she suggests.

"That sounds like a good idea" I reply. "I'm going for a run just now but I won't be long anyway so I should be back in plenty of time to get ready for lunch" I tell her.

"Ok that's cool" she smiles.

"I managed to persuade Jason to come with me because I wanted to talk to him. I know he won't be up for a conversation outright so I thought if he came running with me then I can slip what I want to talk to him about into the conversation without him really noticing" I say. There is no way he would just come to my place for a conversation but if I suggest we go running then he'll say yes so then I'll be able to talk to him.

"What did you want to talk to him about?" Brittany asks.

"Quinn and the baby" I say and Brittany nods. "I know you think I should stay out of it and I will, I just need to talk to him about something first."

"Look it's not my business so you can do what you want about that" she says.

"Is it your business though, I mean you're going to be my wife next year so basically my family is yours and yours is mine" I state.

"I suppose it is" she smiles.

"Anyway I should be going now, I'll see you later ok" I say while quickly kissing Brittany before leaving.

XXX

"So what exactly is going on with you and Quinn?" I ask.

"What do you mean?" Jason asks confused.

"You're raising the baby together right?" I ask and he nods his head, "so how will that work, I mean are you both just friends or…?"

"We're two single people who happen to be having a baby together, that's all you need to know" he states.

"So are you going to go to all the scans and things with Quinn?" I ask.

"Obviously since it's my baby" he glares.

"There's no need to have an attitude Jason, I'm just trying to understand how things are going to work out" I say.

"It's actually none of your business so you don't need to understand anything" he replies. "It's between Quinn and me so you don't need to concern yourself with something that's got nothing to do with you."

"Jason you knocked up my best friend, I think I could at least find out what's going on" I tell her.

"It takes two to tango Santana so it wasn't all me" Jason glares again.

"I know that. Look my whole point is that I think you could both inform people about what's going on" I say. "I've got mom on my case asking me all the time about you and Quinn so I think you should have the decency to tell her what's going on."

"It's complicated right now so just let Quinn and I figure things out without butting in ok?" he says.

"I wish I could but like I say, it's mom that keeps asking me things because you won't tell her and to be quite honest I don't need that right now" I say.

"Just tell mom it's nothing to do with you and you don't know anything" he says.

"I wish I could Jason but she just won't listen to me. If you would just man up and talk to mom about this whole situation with you and Quinn then maybe I could actually get some peace" I tell him.

"The reason I haven't talked to mom very much about this is because I don't know how to" Jason says.

"If you're worried that she'll be disappointed in you then don't be" I tell him. "Just focus on the part that she'll be getting a grandchild in six or seven months. You know what she's like, she's always wanted grandchildren even though she pretends she's too young" I say.

"I know she's always wanted grandchildren but she would have expected you to have her grandchildren first" he states.

"That may be so but it's still a grandchild all the same so just trust me, deep down mom is really excited" I say.

"We're off topic here, the whole point is not grandchildren. It's about me being a father at twenty-one" he says.

"Look if you really can't talk to me about all of this right now then please just talk to mom. She just wants the best for you and she might even be able to help you process things better, I mean she is a parent after all" I say.

"Fine, I'll talk to mom" he sighs.

"Thank you" I say thankful that my mom won't constantly ask me questions anymore about Quinn and Jason.

"Why is my life always so complicated compared to yours?" Jason groans.

"You might be going through some things at the moment but I wouldn't say your life is always so complicated" I say.

"It is though" he sighs. "You know what you want and everything seems to be going well for you whereas barely anything is going the way I want it to. I mean you and Brittany are living together and about to get married whereas I was with Clare longer than you and Brittany but yet I never felt ready to take any big steps. You two will probably have kids eventually whereas I'm having a baby with someone I'm not even in love with."

"Life is never what you think, nothing ever goes to plan so you just have to roll with it and enjoy what you have" I say. "My life has never been perfect, it's only been since recently that things have started to sort themselves out. I was divorced by the time I was twenty-five and I never thought I'd get what I really wanted in life and then Brittany came along and now things are looking up."

"I'm happy I'm going to be a dad but I never expected to be a dad at twenty-one and not even have a girlfriend" he says.

"I don't mean this to sound harsh but what's done is done" I state. "You can't change the past so just focus on the positives right now and eventually everything will fall into place" I tell him.

"Ok" he nods.

XXX

"So how is the food, is yours ok?" Brittany asks as we sit in the restaurant together.

"Yeah mine is fine, is yours?" I reply.

"Yeah it's nice" Brittany says.

"Just nice?" I question.

"In fact I can't lie, it's absolutely horrible" she laughs.

"So is mine actually" I say laughing too. "I didn't want to say anything because you were the one that picked the restaurant" I tell her.

"How about we just ask for the check just now and we can pick up a pizza on the way home or something. I know it's not exactly fine dining but it's better than this crap" Brittany suggests.

"Yeah that sounds like a good plan to me" I smile. As soon as we get the check, Brittany pays for it and we go back to the car. As mentioned, on the way home we picked up some pizza before sitting in front of the TV together eating it. "I know I shouldn't be talking about this but Quinn's got her twelve week scan coming up next week and I think Jason is going to go with her" I say.

"Oh well that's good" Brittany says.

"I do feel quite bad for Jason though. I mean there was no way he was ready to settle down with Clare and now he's going to be a father and he has no girlfriend to share that with" I say. "He's really been thrown in at the deep end here and his whole life is going to change."

"I can't imagine how either of them are going to cope on their own, I mean yes they're both doing it together but they're not together if you know what I mean" Brittany says.

"I know and what's it going to be like in the future when they both move on?" I say. "Things could get weird because how will Jason cope with another man in his child's life and it'll be the same for Quinn if Jason gets another girlfriend."

"I guess they'll just need to work it out" Brittany replies. "I'm lucky enough to have my parents still together but how will the baby feel you know. Obviously babies won't really know the difference but when the child grows up, how's it going to feel?" she says.

"A lot of children grow up without their parents being together" I state.

"I know but Quinn and Jason were never together in the first place so I'd imagine it might be a little different" she says.

"I suppose neither of us will really know" I say.

"Yeah and I guess it's not really our business either" she states.

"Yeah I suppose it's not" I agree.

"It must be exciting though at the prospect of having a baby in the family. It must be a long time since there was one" she says and I nod.

"Yeah the last baby in the family probably was Jason so it will be exciting and I can't wait to spoil my little niece or nephew" I say smiling at the thought. As much as I've made my feelings clear about Jason and Quinn, I am excited about getting a little niece or nephew.

"I've always had this feeling that you're really good with kids" Brittany smiles.

"Yeah I guess I am" I say smiling back. "I'll be even better with our kids though" I tell her.

"I'm excited about the future when we have kids and stuff" Brittany says. "It's a long way off right enough, I mean I've still got just under two years left at college" she says.

"Yeah I suppose it is quite a while away" I say.

* * *

Brittany's POV

Thursday 13th September 2018

The fall semester is well underway now at college and it's really starting to stress me out again. I've got deadlines upon deadlines and nothing seems to be calming down at the minute. Some of my friends and I have decided to stay back after classes on Thursdays to go over some of the coursework we have which I think is helping but the only thing is I'm not getting home until late at night. I don't really get a chance to see Santana all that much on a Thursday when I have the extra study session and I work on Tuesday and Wednesday nights after college and I still work on a Monday so my time with Santana really is just the weekend and the odd Friday night when we're not both exhausted from during the week.

I climb into bed next to Santana "look at you all warm and cosy" I state.

"Are you jealous?" she asks while turning around.

"Yes but of the bed not you" I reply.

"What do you mean?" Santana asks confused.

"All these late study sessions are making me miss going to bed with you at night. I know it sounds stupid but you're always sleeping by the time I get home and you leave before me in the morning" I tell her.

"It's not stupid" Santana says while sitting up in bed. "It just means you miss me" she says.

"I'm not saying I regret moving in with you, I just feel it's made things a little worse. I mean I see you lying sleeping at night and I don't want to wake you because I know you've had a hard day but I also do want to wake you because I want to talk to you or kiss you. Do you get what I'm trying to say?" I ask.

"I do, if you were at your parents' house you wouldn't see me but since we live together it's like you're getting teased because I'm here but you can't talk to me or whatever because I'm asleep" Santana says.

"Exactly" I agree.

"Well technically I don't actually have to be in work until later tomorrow so if you want, we can hang out right now together" Santana suggests. "I noticed there was supposed to be a lot of movies on TV tonight so we could get some popcorn and watch one" she says.

"No I feel bad enough for waking you up tonight, you don't need to sit up with me now as well" I say.

"Trust me, I want to stay up right now and hang out with you for a while" I smile.

"If you really want to then ok" I say.

"I do so why don't you pick a movie and I'll go downstairs to make us some popcorn" Santana says and I nod. As soon as we're both ready, we get settled in bed and watch a movie.

"Babe can I ask you a question?" I say.

"Of course" Santana smiles while turning her head to look at me.

"Do you feel like you're always the one compromising to suit me but I never compromise anything to suit you?" I ask.

"No not really" Santana shakes her head.

"You can be honest with me, I won't take any offence" I say.

"I am being honest babe" she says kissing me.

"Take tonight for example, I'm complaining about not seeing you at night and then you end up staying up to watch a movie with me even though you probably will leave earlier than me tomorrow" I say.

"I'm not doing it to suit you…well yeah I am but I mean I'm doing it for myself as well. I want to be able to see you too and talk to you" she says.

"It's not just tonight though, it's about the engagement as well" I say. "I mean you're the one who waited for me until I was ready and you're the one who is basically letting me make all the decisions about the wedding."

"Babe you don't need to feel bad about any of that. I waited for you because I know what a big deal it is getting engaged and I'm letting you make most of the decisions about the wedding because it affects you more than me. I'm already settled with a job so I know my schedule better than you but you need to factor in a lot more things. You have college and both of your jobs to take into account as well as possible summer placements you could get" she replies.

"You will tell me then if you feel you're always accommodating me and it's never the other way around" I say.

"I will tell you but I know you always make an effort for me so don't worry about it" Santana replies.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Saturday 15th September 2018

It's only 6am but Santana has been up for a while now getting ready to go for a run. I didn't sleep very well last night because I kept waking up all the time. When I did eventually get some sleep, I ended up waking up at 5am but since then I just couldn't go back to sleep so now I've given up on trying. Santana is currently sitting on the edge of the bed, tying her laces.

"Babe?" I say to get her attention.

"Yeah" she smiles turning her head round to look at me.

"I was thinking since I'm awake now and I can't sleep then maybe I could go running with you" I suggest.

"I thought you hated running?" she asks.

"No, I just don't like getting up super early to run but since I'm wide awake now then I figured I could just go with you for a change" I say.

"Well if you want to come then you can, I don't mind" she shrugs.

"Ok cool, just give me two seconds and I'll get ready" I say while getting out of bed.

"Ok" she smiles. "I'll wait downstairs for you" she says before exiting the room. As soon as I'm ready, I head downstairs to meet her.

"That's me ready" I state.

"Wow I'm loving the tight clothing, those pants really cling to you" Santana says smiling.

"Maybe after our run you could help me stretch or…cool down" I say seductively.

"Please don't say things like that when we're about to just go out the door" she groans. "I'm not going to want to run now" she states.

"Come on let's go" I smile while walking to the door.

"Ok" Santana nods while following me.

"So what is your usual route" I ask as we begin running.

"It changes all the time, it's usually just depends on how I'm feeling and how far I want to run" she replies. "Sometimes when I really need to clear my head then I'll run for longer so I'll take a longer route and sometimes I just prefer to run for exercise before work so I might not run as far" she says.

"Ok cool" I say.

"How about we just make a left up here though and make our way towards the park?" Santana suggests.

"Sounds good" I say already struggling to keep up with her. It's not that I'm unfit or anything, I just don't tend to run with Santana a lot so I'm not used to her pace. We run for about fifteen minutes before I need to stop her to ask her to slow down slightly.

"Is this a better pace for you?" Santana asks.

"Yeah this is fine" I reply with a nod. "Hey can I ask you a question?"

"Sure" Santana smiles while glancing at me.

"Do people always stare at you when you're out running?" I ask noticing a few people stare at us as we run past.

"I can't say I've noticed" Santana shrugs.

"Ok watch these two runners when they go past us" I say noticing two women in the distance running in the opposite direction from us. "I bet you anything they're going to stare" I say.

 _"_ _Look at that girl's face"_ one of the runners says as they go past while obviously staring at us.

 _"_ _I know"_ the other runner says laughing.

"Were they just talking about us?" Santana asks angrily while slowing down to look at the runners that just went past. "What rude little bitches, how dare they stare at us and then say something like that" she states.

"What do you think they meant?" I ask confused.

"I have no idea, I mean…" Santana says before pausing when she looks at me. "Um babe…"

"Yeah" I reply.

"You have chocolate or something all over your face" she says struggling not to laugh.

"What do you mean?" I ask quickly while covering my face with my hand.

"Honey there is something that looks a lot like chocolate all around your lips and a little speckle on your cheek" she replies.

"Do you have a mirror?" I ask while still shielding my face with my hand.

"Of course I have a mirror, it's one of the very few items I take when I'm running. I never leave the house without one when I'm running" she says sarcastically causing me to glare.

"This is not the time Santana, I'm not in the mood" I say sternly.

"Just use your iPod or something" she says.

"Yeah that'd be an idea" I say while quickly getting my iPod and using the screen to see the reflection of my face. "Oh my god" I gasp.

"I guess that's why everyone was staring" Santana says.

"You think?" I snap.

"Ok just because you're embarrassed doesn't mean you need to snap. It's no big deal so just calm down" Santana says. "I think I have a tissue in my pocket or something that you can use" she says.

"I'm sorry but we've been running for almost twenty minutes and I didn't even notice I had chocolate all over my face. Lots of people have probably seen me and have been laughing at me" I state.

"Can I just ask why you'd even be eating chocolate at this time in the morning anyway?" Santana asks as she hands me the tissue.

"Well I figured I shouldn't go out with an empty stomach plus I thought I should have something that gave me some energy so to save time in making something, I just grabbed a couple of pieces of chocolate" I reply while wiping my face.

"I see" Santana nods.

"Ok how does my face look now?" I ask.

"Beautiful as always" Santana smiles.

"I'm serious" I say rolling my eyes at her response.

"And so am I" Santana replies.

"Do I still have chocolate around my lips?" I ask.

"Let me just check" she says while leaning towards me and kisses me. "Nope, you're good" she smiles.

"Not what I meant but a nice answer all the same" I say. I can't help but smile though because she kissed me.

"Shall we start back up then?" she asks and I nod. We barely run for another five minutes before we're stopping again but not because of me this time.

"Santana, it's nice to see you again" some random woman says. I have no idea who she is or why she is talking to Santana.

"You too" Santana smiles. "Are you just out running?" she asks.

"Yeah" the woman nods. "You'll know yourself how much a run helps to clear your head" she says.

"It really does, doesn't it?" Santana says.

"I haven't seen you in a while around here, have you changed where you run?" the woman asks.

"Not really, I was just telling Brittany earlier that it depends what mood I'm in where I run" Santana says.

"I see" the woman nods before there's a short silence.

"Oh this is Jasmine. I sometimes meet her from time to time when I'm out running" Santana says while turning to look at me.

"Oh right" I say. "We should probably…"

"Who's your friend?" the woman smiles, never taking her eyes off of Santana. Before Santana can even utter a word, I jump in.

"Her friend is actually her fiancée" I state while putting my arm around Santana.

"Oh" the woman says surprised. "I didn't realise you were engaged" she says.

"You're hardly going to know though are you?" I say. "I mean you barely know Santana, you just pass her in the park from time to time" I state.

"I know but…"

"We should go now babe" I say smiling at Santana. "I'd hate for us to lose our motivation for running."

"Yeah we probably should but it was nice to see you again Jasmine" Santana replies.

"You too, hopefully I'll see you again sometime" Jasmine replies as I pull Santana away.

"Not if I can help it" I mutter as Santana and I begin running again.

"Did you say something babe?" Santana asks.

"No I was just talking to myself" I smile while shaking my head. "She likes you by the way" I state after a moment.

"She's a nice person and we're always pleasant to one another so I wouldn't see any reason why she wouldn't like me" Santana says missing the point of what I'm trying to say.

"No I mean she really likes you, like really-really likes you" I say trying to emphasise my point.

"What, don't be silly" Santana laughs brushing it off.

"She couldn't take her eyes off you and did you not see the look in her eyes?" I say.

"Not really" Santana shakes her head.

"I thought she was about to cum just from looking at you. I mean don't get me wrong I understand why she might because you are insanely hot but come on, boundaries people" I state.

"Thank you for the little compliment you slipped in there but honestly you're overreacting about Jasmine" she replies. "The woman doesn't like me like that, she was just being pleasant."

"Did you not see her face fall when I told her I was your fiancée and not your friend?" I ask.

"I wasn't really paying attention to Jasmine at that point, I was too busy watching you get jealous of some stranger" she smirks.

"I'm not jealous Santana, I just don't like someone looking at my fiancée like that" I say.

"In other words you're jealous" Santana teases.

"Look in my opinion I think she has the hots for you but if you don't see it then fine, I'll let it go" I sigh.

"Even if she did like me, I have no interest in her whatsoever" she says.

"I know that, I just think it's rude to stare at someone like that especially when that someone is about to get married to the woman standing right next to them" I say.

"If it helps I can just avoid Jasmine any time I see her" Santana says.

"Don't be silly, you really don't need to do that. It's just annoying me right now but I'm sure I'll get over it" I say.

"Ok" Santana smiles.

* * *

Santana's POV

Tuesday 18th September 2018

"Can I get a coffee from a sexy blonde waitress like yourself" I say and Brittany's head shoots up.

"Hey…what are you doing here?" she asks surprised.

"I just finished work so I thought I would come and see you for a while. There's no point sitting at home myself all night so I might as well get something to eat here instead of eating alone" I reply.

"Ok cool" Brittany smiles.

"So how was your day?" I ask as Brittany pours me some coffee.

"Just put it this way, I am so glad to see you right now" she sighs.

"That bad huh?" I ask sympathetically.

"Yep, I have another piece of coursework to do for next Tuesday and my mom called me before my shift started. Apparently my aunt who is my mom's sister got into a car accident this morning so my mom is going to have to drive up there and stay with her for a few days, maybe even a week" she replies.

"Oh my goodness, is she ok?" I ask.

"Yeah, she broke her leg and a few ribs so she's going to be out of work for a while" Brittany replies. "My mom was going to come dress shopping with me at the weekend but I don't think she's going to be back by then. I mean I know it sounds insensitive but I cleared my whole schedule this weekend because it was the best day that suited everyone" she says.

"You'll have plenty of time to go dress shopping so don't worry" I reassure her. "How about we just make use of the weekend and make some other plans for the wedding" I suggest.

"Aren't you having lunch with Quinn and some of your other friends on Saturday?" she asks.

"I am but we can either do something after it or we can change the plans slightly and you and your friends can come to lunch too and we can discuss ideas for the bridesmaids" I suggest.

"Neither of our sisters will be there though so it would seem like we're leaving them out since they'll be bridesmaids too" she says.

"We'll just invite Emma and Eva as well then" I say. "I would be surprised if they turned down a free lunch."

"I guess we could do that then, we could even look at some possible dresses for them after lunch" Brittany says.

"We could but the only thing is, we'll probably have to have a fitting nearer the wedding again because obviously Quinn is pregnant right now but the baby will definitely be here by the time the wedding arrives" I say.

"It won't hurt to look at the different styles and colours there is though" Brittany says and I nod in agreement. "Anyway enough about me and my stressing, how was your day?" she asks.

"It was ok, not much different from usual though" I chuckle.

"Do you want me to get you something to eat, I bet you're starving" she asks.

"I haven't actually eaten since lunch so I could eat something now" I reply. "Are you due a break soon because maybe we could eat together?" I ask.

"I have to wait until Sophie starts her shift and that's not for another hour" Brittany says.

"Ok well I'll just have coffee just now while looking over some notes and then we can eat together in an hour" I say.

"Ok" Brittany smiles.

* * *

That's it for chapter 5, let me know what you think. There will be some time jumps coming up soon so I'm not dragging things out for too long.


	6. Ready For Children

Thanks for the reviews last chapter, hope you like this one.

* * *

Chapter 6: Ready for Children

Santana's POV

Saturday 22nd September 2018

Myself, Brittany, Rachel, Mercedes, Quinn, Kitty, Tina, Eva and Emma are all having lunch together today to discuss things about the wedding and discuss their roles as bridesmaids. We've decided that both Brittany and I will each have a maid of honour who we've decided will be our sisters. Hopefully after lunch we can go and look at some dresses for them. We've not really made much progress on the wedding front today apart from deciding on maid of honours because Eva can't stop talking about Quinn and Jason's baby.

"I can't wait to be an aunt, I'm going to spoil this kid so much" Eva says excitedly.

"No I think Santana is going to be the worse at spoiling this child, she's always had a soft spot for children" Tina states.

"Who doesn't like children?" I say with a shrug. "Anyway are we all ready to order?" I ask.

"Yeah I know I am" Brittany smiles.

"Speaking of food, I was just wondering the other day how old is a baby before it can be given solid foods?" Eva asks but before anyone can answer, I call the waitress over so we can all order our food.

"I was thinking that maybe the dresses could be…" I try to get the conversation back to the wedding when the waitress leaves but it seems Eva has other ideas.

"Has the baby started kicking yet?" Eva asks completely disregarding anything I have to say.

"Not yet but my doctor said because it's my first then I might not feel it kicking until a little later" Quinn replies. "And before you ask, I don't know if it's a girl or a boy" she chuckles.

"Did you know I was going to ask that?" Eva laughs.

"I did" Quinn nods. "Jason warned me that you might ask lots of questions though so I'm well prepared."

"Oh do you talk to Jason a lot?" Kitty smirks.

"It's not like we have daily catch ups or anything, we just talk about the baby" Quinn shrugs. "Jason did say however that he's going to come over and help me build some furniture for when the baby arrives" she says.

"So the dresses?" I say louder to get everyone's attention.

"Yeah sorry what were you going to say babe?" Brittany asks.

"I was thinking that maybe they could be different styles but all in the same colour, we can just see whichever style suits whichever person best" I say.

"I agree" Brittany says. "What do you have in mind about colours for the dresses, there was a nice deep pink I saw in one of the bridal magazines I was reading" she says.

"It really depends how it looks because I'm not always a fan of pink" I say.

"Oh pink!" Eva exclaims. "If you have a girl Quinn then you have to paint the nursery pink" she states.

"I wanted something different for the nursery" Quinn says. "I mean no disrespect to anyone wanting a pink nursery but I wanted a different colour, something not as popular because I feel baby girls always have pink nurseries" she says.

"That's true, what way to celebrate a Lopez baby than doing something unoriginal. We Lopez's have never been original, we like to mix things up" Eva says.

"The baby will be part Fabray though, it's not just a Lopez" Tina says.

"Sorry we're boring you three aren't we?" Quinn says apologetically to Rachel, Mercedes and Emma.

"No don't be silly, it's nice to see everyone get so excited about the baby" Emma says. "I'm actually surprised Santana hasn't made a few jokes yet or stated more of an opinion on the subject" she says.

"People don't always need to express themselves with words Emma" I say while glaring at her. "My opinion isn't actually your business anyway" I add.

"Well we can definitely see that" Rachel says. "From your expression alone, you could just kill someone."

"Just be quiet Blueberry" I snap.

"For the tenth time this week, my last name is Berry not blueberry" Rachel sighs.

"A blueberry is still of the berry variety so I'm not exactly wrong" I shrug.

"Oh speaking of berries, to think that little thing inside you Quinn started off the size of a blueberry" Eva smiles.

"It's amazing how fast they grow, I mean I know nine months might seem like a long time but to get from such a small thing to a baby in nine months is impressive" Quinn replies.

"I know I can't wait to have children and experience pregnancy" Eva says.

"Does Scott know that you're ready for children?" Brittany asks.

"He knows I want them soon but we've not made any concrete plans on when we'll have them specifically" Eva replies.

"So what about names Quinn, have you and Jason discussed what you might call the baby?" Tina asks.

"No not yet, we're just taking one step at a time. We're still trying to sort out how we're going to work things" Quinn replies. "I've got my own apartment but Jason still lives with his parents so we're not sure how to work out the living arrangements" she says.

"Yeah I suppose you can't really upset the baby's routine all the time so it wouldn't be wise to have it stay in two different places" Tina says. I've got to say this baby talk is really starting to annoy me now. We're not making any progress about the wedding and all everyone wants to talk about is Quinn and her pregnancy.

"I must admit Quinn, you do look rather big already" Eva points out. "I don't know if Jason said but twins run in my family so who knows, you might be pregnant with two babies" she says.

"Oh don't say that, that'll be too much to handle" Quinn laughs. "Also I'm really glad you think I look huge already, it's nice to hear that" she teases.

"I didn't mean it like that because you look great for being pregnant" Eva states. "But I'm just saying, you never know it could be twins."

"Can we just stop talking about the damn baby" I shout causing everyone to look at me. I don't know where it came from or why I did it but I just snapped. I don't want to hear any more about the baby right now.

"Babe…calm down" Brittany states.

"I'm sorry but we're supposed to be here to talk about the wedding and so far all we've talked about is babies" I state.

"I'm sorry if the talk about your future niece or nephew offends you. I didn't realise it was such a big deal" Quinn says glaring at me.

"I just think it's damn right rude that Brittany and I invite you all to lunch to discuss our wedding and all you can talk about is the baby. If I wanted to hear about babies and not make wedding arrangements then I would have hung out at a kindergarten for the day, not offered you all a free lunch" I state angrily.

"Honey there's still plenty of time to discuss the wedding so there's no harm in getting a little excited about Quinn and Jason's baby" Brittany says.

"That's a little bit rich Brittany, you were the one who told me to stop getting involved in the baby situation and now you want to talk about it" I state.

"That's different and you know it" Brittany glares. "You were angry about the whole thing and wouldn't let it go whereas I'm just taking an interest in your niece or nephew because I'm happy for Quinn and excited for her unlike you" she states.

"I am happy for my brother because he's going to be a dad but I'm not…"

"You're not happy for me I assume?" Quinn interjects.

"That's not what I was going to say" I sigh.

"You can forgive Jason because he's your brother but you can't forgive me, your best friend" Quinn says shaking her head.

"Wait a second, forgive you?" Mercedes questions. "Why would Santana need to forgive you or Jason?" she asks confused.

"Because Santana has a major problem with Jason and I sleeping together" Quinn answers.

"I couldn't care less who either of you slept with so I don't need to forgive anyone for anything. I have no problem with you two doing it, I have a problem with an innocent baby getting caught in the middle" I say.

"Santana, Jason and I are on good terms so I don't see why there needs to be an issue. We're still working through some stuff but I can assure you we're both very much on the same page with regards loving and caring for this baby. There won't be anyone caught in the middle" Quinn says.

"I'm going to the bathroom right now but when I get back, let's hope the baby conversation will have subsided" I say while getting up from the table.

"Santana you can't just leave it like that" Brittany says.

"I can leave it however I want so when I get back I want the conversation changed or I'm out of here" I state before walking away. After giving myself a few minutes in the bathroom to calm down, I go back to the table.

"I'm sorry Santana if you thought I was making everything about me and the baby but…"

"I don't want to hear it, can we just move on please and talk about what we came here to talk about" I say cutting Quinn off.

"Ok fine" Quinn sighs. For the next ten minutes, we all sit in an awkward silence and no one says a word as we all eat our food.

"Perhaps we should just do this another day" Brittany suggests. "I'm sure we've got lots of time before the wedding so we don't need to make these decisions right now" she says.

"I thought you were worried about the timing of everything?" I say confused. Brittany has been panicking lately about getting everything done on time.

"I was but I'm probably just overreacting plus I don't think anyone is in the mood to go dress shopping right now so we should probably call it a day after we're finished lunch" she replies.

"If that's what you want" I say.

"It probably is wise after your little performance moments ago" Eva states.

"Do you know what, I'm not doing this again" I say while standing up. "I'm going to wait in the car Brittany but I'll pay for the food on the way out so don't worry about it" I tell her.

"But we were going to split it" Brittany says.

"Well you can pay me back later then but I'm not sitting here any longer. I'll see you in the car ok" I say while kissing Brittany's cheek before leaving.

XXX

"You were acting very weird today at lunch" Brittany points out as we sit and watch TV together. Once we got home, Brittany said she had some studying to do so she spent most of the afternoon in the study. I actually think she was only saying that because she wanted to give me some space to calm down.

"I know and I'm sorry. I guess I'm just feeling the pressure a bit and getting stressed about the wedding" I lie. "I'll be fine though" I tell her trying my best to smile.

"It really was out of character though" she says.

"I know but I just couldn't help it, I just got really annoyed at everyone that I just snapped" I say honestly.

"You can talk to me babe if there's anything worrying you. I mean I know I tend to hide away sometimes when I've got problems but usually you tell me if something troubles you" she says.

"I know but I'd rather just move on now and forget about what happened" I say.

"Ok that's cool, I'll stop talking about it" Brittany says. "Although I do know a way where you could relieve some of that stress" she smiles.

"I don't know if I really want to go a run right now" I reply.

"I'm not talking about a run; I'm talking about something much better" she smirks before slowly caressing my thigh.

"Oh" I say just catching onto what she means.

"Instead of going over plans for the actual wedding ceremony today then why don't we practice for the honeymoon?" she suggests.

"I could do that" I smirk.

"Good" she smiles while changing position on the couch to lie down. She then pulls me on top of her and buries her hands in my hair as she kisses me.

"Are we just going to do it here?" I ask pulling away slightly.

"It's our house so why not, it's not like we'll be disturbed or anything" she smiles and I nod before leaning down to kiss her. She slides her hands down to my butt and gently squeezes it before wrapping her legs around my waist.

"I can't get the zipper on your jeans down" I say between kisses.

"Just tug on it if it's stuck" Brittany replies before kissing me again.

"No I mean from this angle" I reply while pulling away.

"Why don't I just quickly take them off first then?" she suggests.

"I think the reason we never have sex in here is because it never works out right, how about we just go upstairs?" I state.

"Fine" she replies while getting off the couch. "You know we should buy a bigger couch at some point" she says as we make our way upstairs.

"I do have to agree actually" I reply.

"Anyway we have more pressing things to attend to right now" Brittany smiles while wrapping her arms around me.

"That we do" I smile back.

Before I know it, we're kissing passionately against the door while stripping one another out of our clothes. The minute we get to the bed, Brittany straddles me and begins leaving a trail of kisses all down my body. I must have been lost in my thoughts for a minute because the next thing I know, Brittany is wrapping her lips around my member.

"Uh…" I moan out as I feel Brittany begin sucking on my member.

For some reason as I'm lying there, my mind drifts off to what happened at lunch today. I still fine that it was really rude of Quinn turning up for a free lunch and doing nothing but talk about her pregnancy. I invited everyone there to talk about my wedding and I thought since I was putting them through it then I would buy them lunch as well but Quinn has went a step too far. She not only got a free lunch but she also got the chance to talk about her life and how great that is. I didn't think it was very nice that she…

"Hello, earth to Santana!" Brittany says loudly which quickly brings me out of my thoughts.

"Sorry what?" I ask.

"Aren't you enjoying this?" she asks and for a minute I'm confused before I quickly remember what we're doing…or rather what she's doing.

"Of course I'm enjoying it" I state.

"Look you can just tell me and I'll stop, I'd rather not humiliate myself so if it is uncomfortable then just say" she says.

"It's not uncomfortable" I reply. "I'm sorry but my mind was just elsewhere for a moment but that doesn't mean I don't like what you're doing" I say honestly.

"Ok" she nods. Just as she leans down to kiss me, she pulls away again.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"I'm just going to stop because this isn't working anymore, my head is now elsewhere because I keep thinking I'm not pleasing you but you're not saying anything because you don't want to hurt my feelings" she says while grabbing her bathrobe and putting it on.

"Babe I'm sorry" I say sitting up.

"I know but when the mood is gone, it's gone" she sighs while sitting back down on the bed.

"Ok" I nod. I wait a minute before I straddle Brittany's hips and then slowly move my hands to the tie of her robe and untie it before pushing the material to the side.

"What are you doing?" Brittany asks.

"Just relax" I smile at her. "I promise you did make me feel good a minute ago" I say while kissing down her body.

"Santana you've been hot and cold with me all day so I can't just switch on and off whenever your moods change" she tells me.

"I didn't mean to be hot and cold, I'm just so pissed off at Quinn" I sigh while sitting upwards.

"Talk to me then, don't bottle it up" Brittany says grabbing my hands.

"Can you just let me make things up to you right now…please?" I ask with a hopeful smile.

"I think we should…" she stops talking suddenly when I place my hands on her breasts and caress them, "talk" she finishes after taking in a large gulp of air and swallowing.

"Are you sure it's talking you really want?" I ask as I gently run my hands up and down her body.

"Oh who am I kidding" she sighs before pulling me closer and kissing me.

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Saturday 29th September 2018

Brittany is spending the day with her family today so I thought I might as well hang out with Eva or something since it's my day off. For some unknown reason Eva wants to bring up what happened last Saturday with my little outburst. I was hoping to move on from it since it was over a week ago but I'm guessing since I haven't talked to Eva since Saturday then she wants to know why I reacted like that.

"Why did you react like that last week at lunch?" Eva asks.

"Because it was annoying me that I asked everyone to lunch to talk about the wedding and you all thought it was nice to get a free lunch and talk about something completely different. If I wanted everyone to discuss Quinn's baby then I would have arranged lunch for everyone but me and made you all pay your own" I state.

"I don't think that is why you reacted like that" Eva says.

"That's up to you then but it is the truth" I state.

"No it's not, there's something else wrong I think and that's just a cover up. You'd be able to look me in the eye when you talk if you weren't lying" she says.

"Eva I'm not lying" I say.

"Tell me the truth, what really is wrong with you?" Eva asks.

"Nothing" I state.

"Don't lie to me Santana, I know something is going on" she says.

"There is nothing going on Eva so just stop, ok" I say getting frustrated.

"Santana I'm your sister so I've grown up with you for years so I know when something is bothering you" she says. "I'm not going to tell anyone so you can talk to me you know, it stays between you and I."

"There's nothing to talk about so for the last time, stop" I say.

"Please just talk to me Santana" she says. "It might help so just tell me."

"I'm jealous of Quinn ok, are you happy now" I say almost shouting.

"What do you mean you're jealous of her?" Eva asks confused.

"I want a baby" I sigh.

"Oh" Eva says understanding.

"I'm never ever going to rush Brittany into anything but I can't help but feel jealous of Quinn" I state. "I just figured I would be the one to have kids first out of all of us or at least have them by now, I mean I'm 28."

"Have you told Brittany about this?" Eva asks me.

"No because you know how much she got scared when I proposed so how is she going to feel if I suddenly blurt out that I want children?" I say.

"That was over a year ago Santana and she's just proposed to you now so if I were you I would talk to her about it" she says.

"I don't know if I can just now" I say. Of course I don't want to lie to Brittany but I also don't want to freak her out either. She did say the other day that she doesn't know how Jason would cope and he's a year older than her so I worry that she feels the same, perhaps she doesn't think she could cope with a baby right now.

"If it affects you how it did the other day then perhaps not telling her isn't helping matters either" Eva points out.

"I don't know what to do anymore because I'll be 29 in a four months but at the same time Brittany isn't even 21 yet" I state.

"Would waiting a few years for children be so bad, I mean it's not like you're old or anything" she says.

"I know 28 is still young but if I want a few children then I don't want to be really old when the youngest goes to college or something. Brittany and I always said we'd want at least three or four kids since we've both got three siblings and we like a big family but what if we wait too long and I'm already old when the fourth comes along" I say.

"You need to discuss this with Brittany I think" Eva says.

"Brittany doesn't want to have child after child so say we did space them out a bit then what if I'm forty or something when one of them comes, that means I'll be in my late fifties when they go off to college. Look at my parents right now, they're only fifty-two and about to be grandparents but at fifty-one I could have an eleven year old or something" I say. "I mean Brittany will only be thirty-two when I'm forty so it'll be ok for her" I state.

"I don't know what to say Santana because Brittany doesn't finish college until two years away so I really don't think she's going to want children until after then. I know personally I wouldn't want children when I was in the middle of a degree because it'd be too stressful not to mention affect your finances significantly if there was only one full time wage coming in" Eva says.

"Basically I'm screwed then?" I sigh.

"Not necessarily, I mean there is plenty of people having children in their forties plus it's not like Brittany is going to make you wait another twelve years, it just might mean your youngest child won't be born until then if you know what I mean" she says.

"Ok that's true but it doesn't help the fact that I think I might scare Brittany if I talked about children already. Plus seeing my brother with a child is going to make me want a child more and sooner" I state.

"Different people are ready at different times so I think the only way to know for sure is to talk to Brittany. Just let her know you don't want to rush her into anything but you do want to know what she thinks about kids and how far off it might be" Eva says.

"I guess I could maybe talk to her" I say still unsure of what to do.

* * *

Uh-oh, is Santana moving quicker than Brittany in the relationship? Anyway let me know what you think of the chapter.


	7. Talking

Chapter 7: Talking

Santana's POV

Saturday 27th October 2018

It's been a few weeks since my talk with Eva about wanting children sooner rather than later. I do agree with her that I should talk to Brittany but I just don't know how to bring the subject up. The very few times I had built up the courage to say something, something else got in the way so I chickened out again. I think the best thing to do now is to just say it the next opportunity I get before anything else gets a chance to can get in the way.

After sitting in the living room alone watching TV for a while, Brittany finally comes inside after washing her car.

"Oh there you are, I was wondering where you were" she smiles. Ok it's probably now or never to talk to her.

"Brittany I need to talk to you about something" I say in the most confident voice I can…which technically isn't all that confident.

"Ok that's cool but I really would like to shower first, I'll be really quick and then we can sit down and talk" she replies.

"I'd rather you didn't shower right now" I say.

"Can I at least just change my clothes then because I'm soaking?" she asks.

"Please I need to say this now before I back out" I insist.

"Um…ok" she nods while sitting on the arm of the sofa.

"I want children" I blurt out after taking a deep breath.

"I know and so do I" Brittany smiles.

"No I mean I want children soon. I'm not just saying this in a general sense, I actually mean I want children really soon" I say. "Since I found out about Quinn and Jason then all I could think of was that I want that. I don't want to wait years to be a mom" I tell her.

"Oh…" she says surprised.

"I know it seems sudden but I can't just push it aside, we should talk about it" I say.

"I know but I don't know what to say" Brittany admits. "I definitely do want children but right now I don't think I do" she says.

"What is it about right now that you don't want them, I mean is it you're not ready or…?" I ask.

"I'm ready for children I think in the sense that I'm not scared or anything to be a mom" she replies. "But I don't think I could cope right now with being pregnant and being so stressed out" she says.

"Ok" I nod.

"There is nothing I want more than to have children with you and if I could right now then I would" Brittany replies. "I just don't think we could cope financially or I could cope with the stress of college and a baby at the same time" she says.

"I understand" I nod again.

"I know it's not what you wanted to hear but I promise you we'll have children but just not quite yet" she says. "This next year will probably fly in though so it won't be long until I'm done with college."

"It would probably be easier if I was the one who could get pregnant because I don't have college so you could still study while I was the one who was pregnant" I sigh.

"No I think that would make things a thousand times harder. I mean no offence but if we were to have a baby anytime soon then we'd need your money since I can only work part time. I don't think I could keep us both and a baby" Brittany states.

"Right yeah…I never thought about that" I say.

"Babe please don't think I'm taking this lightly because I know you want this so much and like I say so do I but I can't do it right now" she says. "I'd rather be settled with a job and a good income without the stress of college before I have a baby."

"I do understand, it's just it still makes me sad though" I admit.

"I'm not saying we need to wait until I graduate before I get pregnant, but I'd rather the baby wasn't born until I'm done with college. If I don't get the job I want once I finish college then I don't mind because I can just work full time at the café or something but until the actual college part is done then I can't have a baby" she says.

"I'm not blaming anyone or anything but I always pictured myself with children by this time. I thought I would be married with at least one child by the time I was 27" I say.

"Why does the age thing bother you so much, I mean I dare say you'll be 31 and married with a child? Well I would hope anyway that we've had a child by that time because that's well after I finish college" Brittany says.

"If we want a few children but not one right after the other then I could be really old by the time the last one comes" I point out.

"Honey I respect your opinion but I wouldn't have thought the age thing would be a problem" she replies.

"I'd just rather not be in my forties when we're still having children because I could be well into my sixties before they graduate college. I'm not disrespecting older parents but I'd rather be a bit younger" I say sadly.

"I really want to hug you right now but my clothes and hair are soaking wet" she says.

"I don't care" I shrug.

"Ok" she smiles before sitting next to me on the couch. She wraps her arms around me and I place my head on her shoulder.

"I know I should just be grateful that we're both blessed to be able to have children but I can't helping wanting more" I say.

"Santana I completely understand so don't blame yourself. It's only natural that you're going to feel like this because your best friend and your brother are having children and you're not. I wish I could change things but I can't" she says. "I know it might be hard right now but just look forward to the future because it is going to happen at some point."

We sit in the silence for the next five minutes and Brittany just holds me. As much as it sucks right now knowing we'll not be having children at the moment, it does make me feel slightly better to know she understands where I'm coming from.

"Hey do you remember that lunch us girls all had a month ago?" I ask breaking the silence.

"Yeah" Brittany nods.

"Well that little tantrum or whatever I had was because I got jealous of Quinn and everyone talking about the baby. Every time they talked about the baby, all I could think of was how much I wanted children right now and how it couldn't happen" I admit.

"Babe…" she says sympathetically while hugging me tighter. "You kept this to yourself all that time, babe that must have been hard."

"I did talk to Eva but I just didn't want to freak you out so I was trying to find the right time to bring the subject up" I say. "I know when I proposed you weren't ready so I wasn't sure if this would be the same."

"I must admit seeing everyone get excited about Quinn and Jason having a baby has made me a little jealous" Brittany says.

"Really?" I ask surprised.

"Yeah but I keep telling myself it wouldn't be wise so I usually just focus on something else to take my mind off it" she says. "I am excited for them though" she adds.

"Yeah I mean I am excited to be an aunt so maybe I just need to put all my attention on my future niece or nephew at the moment and just look forward to having our own children" I say.

"Yeah" she nods in agreement. We sit in silence for a while, digesting what we've just talked about. It was a lot to take in for both of us I think because I doubt Brittany expected I was going to say that or even thought I had been feeling like that and I didn't know what to expect either because I didn't know if she'd freak out or how she'd react.

"Have I told you how much I love you?" Brittany smiles while looking into my eyes.

"Yeah but it wouldn't hurt to hear it again" I smile back.

"I love you so-so much, more than I've ever loved anyone" she says before leaning in to kiss me.

"I love you too" I tell her.

"So um…I really should go and shower now and get all this dirt off of me" Brittany says standing up.

"I agree, I mean I know I said you could sit down even though you were dirty but I didn't realise how bad you were. Look at my couch babe, it's covered in little speckles of dirt" I say.

"Your couch, huh?" she smiles. "Is it not our couch?"

"I guess but it was here before you moved in" I reply. "Actually weren't we talking about getting a new sofa a while back?" I ask.

"We were actually" she nods, "hey maybe me making it all dirty might actually give us an incentive to go and get a new one now."

"Yeah maybe it will" I agree.

"Anyway I will go and shower" she says heading to the door.

"Ok" I smile before she leaves.

I'm glad we've had this conversation now and Brittany understands how I feel but I'm still a little sad. I mean I know where she's coming from and I respect her opinion but we're still not going to have children right now. I didn't expect Brittany to turn around and just say yes to doing that just now but I can't just switch how I feel either. It's going to take time for me to feel a bit better about us waiting but at least I know I don't have to wait forever, maybe just a few more years.

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Sunday 28th October 2018

I'm having a really good dream when suddenly I'm startled awake by a loud bang in the bedroom. As soon as I open my eyes I see Brittany walking over to the bed with a tray in her hands.

"Sorry, the door swung behind me before I could stop it from banging" she apologies.

"It's ok" I say rubbing my eyes.

"Anyway this is for you, breakfast in bed for my beautiful fiancée" she smiles while placing the tray down in front of me.

"Honey you didn't need to do this" I say sitting up in bed and Brittany sits down next to me.

"I wanted to treat you, I don't do it enough so I've decided I'm going to show you how much I love you by doing little things like this" she says.

"Well I can't complain about getting spoiled so feel free to treat me whenever and however you want" I tell her. "Thanks for breakfast though" I say leaning over to kiss her.

"You're welcome" she smiles.

"Aren't you joining me?" I ask. "I don't think I could manage all of this myself" I say pointing to the food.

"I'm not actually that hungry right now but you don't need to eat it all, just eat whatever you can manage" Brittany replies.

"Ok" I smile before beginning to eat.

"So…how are you feeling this morning?" Brittany asks hesitantly.

"Yeah I'm fine" I shrug.

"No I mean after our conversation yesterday" she clarifies. "Are you ok?" she asks.

"I'm glad we talked Britt and I understand your point of view so you don't need to worry" I reassure her. "I'm not ecstatic about it but I understand so I'm willing to wait a little while until we have children" I say. It's not that I'm desperate for children right this second, I just wanted children sooner than what we planned but I guess that's just because I'm older and at that stage right now and Brittany's not.

"If you want to talk about it more or anything then we can. I want to make this as easy for you as possible since you're basically doing this for me. I wish it wasn't all down to me and that we could have children soon but it's just not feasible" she says.

"Brittany its ok, you don't have to explain it anymore to me. I'll be ok in time, I just need some time to get my head around it if that's ok" I say.

"Yeah that's totally cool, I'll give you as much time as you need" she says placing her hand on top of mine.

"Do you mind though if we don't talk about it, it's only going to remind me?" I ask.

"Of course" she smiles.

"Thanks" I say smiling back. "The food is good by the way" I say changing the subject.

"Good I'm glad you like it" she says.

"Are you sure you don't want some because I'll never eat all of this?" I ask.

"I suppose I could eat a little bit of your pancakes" she replies while taking a piece and eating it. "So do you want to go a run this morning?" she asks.

"I don't know if I want to today" I reply.

"Well I thought I could go with you again because it was fun the few times I joined you" she tells me.

"If you want to go then I dare say I could go" I say. "We did spend the whole day at home yesterday so it might be nice to get some fresh air" I say.

"Ok cool, after you've eaten we can just get ready and go then" Brittany says.

"That sounds like a plan babe" I state.

XXX

"Hey have you finished your guest list yet for the wedding?" I ask Brittany as we run through the park. We each decided to write our own guest lists of everyone we want to invite to the ceremony and the reception and then we'll combine them and write our invitations.

"I think I have but I just want to double check I have everyone's names down" she replies.

"My list is all done so once we figure out the exact date for the wedding then we can write invitations" I say.

"Yeah that's cool" Brittany nods. "Oh hey, have you picked your wedding dress yet?" she asks.

"Maybe, maybe not" I smirk. "That's for me to know baby" I tell her.

"If I go home tonight will I find it in one of the guest rooms or something?" she asks.

"Don't you dare look for it babe, it's supposed to be a surprise so I don't want you to see it before the big day" I state.

"Relax I'm just messing with you, I won't look for it" she tells me.

"Good" I say relieved. "What about your dress though, have you picked yours yet?" I ask.

"Not yet, I'm still waiting on the perfect one. I'm hoping if I stop looking then it'll find me you know. If I stop stressing over it then maybe it'll be one of those things where it's right in front of me, you know?" she says.

"I know what you mean" I tell her.

"I can't wait to marry you by the way" she says. "Recently I've just been so excited to get married, I mean not that I wasn't before but these last few weeks I've been even more excited" she tells me.

"Actually speaking of marriage, we still need to decide on names. I mean are we keeping our own surnames or will I take yours or will you take mine or do we hyphenate the two and have the same surname?" I ask.

"I guess that's something we'll need to discuss" she says.

* * *

Brittany's POV

Thursday 29th November 2018

I just got some news at college today which could either be considered good news or bad news. It would be a great opportunity for me but it also clashes with the wedding plans so I'm not sure what to do for the best. I mean I did have an idea but I need to talk to Santana about it first. I'm just waiting on her getting home from work just now so I can talk to her. Usually I'm not home until later on a Thursday but my friends and I decided to cancel our study session today so I'm home early.

"Brittany are you home?" I hear Santana shout before she closes the door.

"Yeah I'm in the kitchen babe" I reply and shortly later I hear Santana's footsteps coming towards the kitchen.

"Hey" Santana says as she comes over to me and kisses me. "I saw your car outside but then I thought you'd have your study session so I wasn't sure if you were home" she says.

"Yeah we cancelled the study session, everyone was just too tired from the essay we had to hand in today. I think we were all adding the final touches to it last night by the sound of things" I tell her.

"Oh I see" Santana says understanding. "Well at least this way I get to see you tonight and I don't have to wait until tomorrow" she smiles.

"Exactly" I say smiling back.

"Are you hungry just now or did you have a late lunch?" she asks.

"No I had a rather early lunch so I could probably eat just now" I reply. "What did you have in mind for dinner?" I ask.

"It was just going to be leftover pasta from yesterday, I made too much so I thought I could sprinkle some cheese on top and heat it up" she replies.

"Sounds good, I'll get the pasta out" I state.

XXX

"So how was work today?" I ask as we sit and eat dinner together.

"Oh you know, just the same old shit but a different day I guess" Santana chuckles.

"At least its money" I shrug.

"Yeah that's the one good thing about it" she replies.

"Hey why don't I take you to work tomorrow and then take you home again once you finish. I mean I've not got any plans tomorrow apart from doing some studying at home" I suggest.

"You don't need to do that" Santana states.

"I know but I want to" I say. "I mean I think it sounds kind of romantic. I'll be there waiting on you finishing and then I can take you home" I tell her.

"Ok, you can take me to work tomorrow" she smiles.

"Ok" I smile.

"So how was college today, anything exciting going on?" Santana asks.

"Actually there is something that I'd like to talk to you about regarding college" I say.

"Oh, ok" she says curiously.

"One of the hospitals nearby had a work placement opportunity for part of the summer next year so I thought I might put my name in for it" I say. "I mean I would be sort of shadowing one of the workers and I'd get to see how things are really done. It'd be a lot better to see how something actually works rather than reading about it in a book, I would learn better that way" I tell her.

"That's fantastic, it could really help you for once you graduate college as well" Santana smiles.

"Exactly but there is one problem though" I say hesitantly.

"Ok" Santana nods.

"It begins in the first week of July but we wanted the wedding to be in July" I say.

"Oh…"

"Now tell me it's stupid if you want but I had an idea" I say and Santana nods for me to continue. "Why don't we just bring the wedding forward to June and that way we can still go on our honeymoon after it" I suggest.

"We could but we've already made plans for the wedding" she says.

"I know but we hadn't actually booked anything for an exact day in July so providing we can still have all those things in June then maybe we could move the wedding forward a month" I say. "If you think we shouldn't then it's totally fine, I'd understand if you think it isn't wise to move everything."

"No I think you might actually be onto something" Santana says. "You're right we didn't book an exact date for the wedding yet so like you say as long as we can arrange everything that we already have for a day in June then I see no problem moving it forward" she smiles.

"Awesome" I smile back. "How about this weekend, we pick a date and start organising things for that date and hopefully next week I'll know more about the placement and whether I got it" I suggest.

"Sounds like a plan. We just need to make sure we organise everything as soon as we can so that we'll know if we can arrange everything for June and not July" Santana says. "I'm so excited for you babe that you might actually get this and who knows it could lead to a job at the end of your degree" she smiles.

"I know, I'm excited too" I state.

"Anyway we should finish eating before our food gets cold" she says and I agree so we go back to eating.

"You're amazing, do you know that?" I say breaking the silence between us.

"Um…thanks" Santana smiles shyly.

"I'm serious babe, you're amazing" I say again while taking her hand across the table. "You let me move our wedding and everything, not many people would be ok with that but you were and I'm so grateful" I tell her.

"It makes sense for both of us and it means I get to marry you quicker so it's win-win really" she replies.

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Friday 30th November 2018

Santana is just about finished work and I arrived a little early to pick her up so I decide just to make my way inside to wait for her. Her receptionist said it would be ok to just go straight through to her office so that's what I'm doing now. When I get to the door I quickly knock and then go inside.

"Oh hey baby, I'm almost done" Santana replies looking up at me from her position behind her desk.

"That's cool, just take your time" I reply with a smile.

"Ok" she nods while scribbling a few more things down on the piece of paper in front of her. I keep myself busy with the magazine that she has at the side of her desk that she usually reads on her break. "And done" Santana says a minute later while logging off her computer and standing up.

"Cool" I smile while walking over to where she is now putting on her coat. "There are for you by the way" I say handing Santana the bouquet of flowers that I have in my hands.

"Wow, what are these for?" she asks.

"They're just for you because I thought you deserved some flowers" I smile.

"Thank you so much babe" she smiles before kissing my cheek.

"Ready to go now then?" I ask.

"Definitely" Santana smiles and we make our way out of her office. I carry her work bag for her since she's taking the flowers. "You know a lot of people say chocolates are the way to a girl's heart but mines is actually flowers" she says.

"Oh you don't like chocolates anymore?" I tease. "I can easily just eat the ones at home myself."

"Ok chocolates and flowers are the way to my heart" she smiles.

"I thought so" I smile before kissing her cheek. We then get into the car. "Oh I booked us a table at your favourite restaurant for dinner tonight so we'll go there at seven" I tell her as I drive off.

"Wait if you're talking about my all-time favourite restaurant then why would you do that because you hate the food there" she says confused.

"I did it because I know you love it and I wanted to treat you" I smile.

"Ok…what have you done?" Santana asks looking at me.

"Nothing, I swear" I state.

"Not that I'm being ungrateful but you don't usually do all this. I mean you took me to work and now you're picking me up and you brought flowers and now you're telling me we're going out tonight" she points out.

"Look it's just come to my attention recently that life is too short for stressing over things and getting worked up so I've decided to just enjoy every day no matter what comes my way" I reply. "I'm just appreciating the good in my life and the majority of everything good in my life is all down to you so thank you" I say genuinely.

* * *

That's it for chapter 7, let me know what you think.


	8. Christmas Party

Thanks for the reviews last chapter especially thanks to the people that review every chapter. I know I can't please everyone but it's interesting to know the different opinions everyone has on the two characters. Obviously I can only see things from my perspective when I'm writing so it's good to know what other people think.

* * *

Chapter 8: Christmas Party

Santana's POV

Thursday 20th December 2018

Last year near Christmas time, I hosted a party for all my friends and family so this year I'm doing it again. It's basically just a large gathering I'm having where we can all hang out and celebrate Christmas since we all have different plans on Christmas day. My friends will be with their families and some of my family will be elsewhere. My grandparents are spending it with my aunt and uncle and my brother Eddie is spending Christmas with Kitty and her family.

The party is on Saturday night so after I finish work today, I'm going shopping to get a few more bits and pieces for the party. Before I can even think about the party though, I need to head to work and actually do some work otherwise I'm going to have some very unhappy clients. Also I'd like to have a quiet Christmas and not spend it working so if I don't hurry up and do what I need to do then I will be spending it working.

"Britt?" I whisper while leaning over to bed.

"Britt is sleeping babe" Brittany groans.

"I know but I'm going to work now so I've left you some coffee here next to the bed" I reply.

"Oh…ok thanks" she says opening her eyes.

"See you later ok" I say kissing her cheek.

"Bye" she smiles and then I head over to the door to leave. "I love you" she says.

"I love you too" I reply with a smile before leaving to go to work. As soon as I arrive, I go straight inside. "Good morning Artie" I say cheerfully as I walk to my office.

"Is it?" he asks.

"What wrong?" I say walking back over to the reception desk where he is.

"Anna's car broke down so she's not going to be here anytime soon so we have no receptionist right now" he states.

"You're kidding me" I exclaim. "I can't have this today, I have too much work to get through not to mention I'm hosting a party in two days and I can't get a hold of the damn company I'm hiring glassware from. How am I meant to work and be a receptionist?"

"The same way as I'm going to have to I guess" Artie sighs. "I did call Samantha to see if she could come in today but she doesn't have anyone to look after her daughter" he says talking about our other receptionist. She only works three days a week which is Monday to Wednesday.

"I guess I'll be staying late tonight" I mutter as I quickly head to my office to get started.

XXX

"How was your day?" Brittany asks as we sit and eat dinner together. I managed to move a few things around so I wasn't staying too long at the office but I can't say I'm any happier though because I didn't manage to go shopping for the party after work like I planned.

"Stressful" I reply. "My receptionist's car broke down so she was late for work so I spent most of the morning trying to juggle my workload as well as answer phones and make calls that my receptionist would have done if she had been there. Once she did arrive things calmed down briefly before I got a call from the company I'm hiring the glassware from for the party to say they had double booked so I spent my entire lunchbreak looking for another company that I could hire glassware from" I tell Brittany.

"Oh babe I'm sorry you had a bad day" Brittany says taking my hand. "Is there anything you want me to do tomorrow?" she asks.

"No its ok, I'm sure everything will be fine" I sigh. "You're already helping out enough" I tell her.

"Honey I'm happy to help so just say the word and I'll do whatever you need" Brittany replies.

"Maybe you could pick up the festive cupcakes that I ordered from that bakery we like. I got them to decorate them with different festive patterns like little Christmas trees or Santa's and I thought all our guests could each get one to take home with them" I say.

"Yeah that's cool baby, I'll do that" Brittany smiles. "If there's anything else you need just let me know because I'm happy to help" she says.

"That's all I can think of just now but I'll let you know" I tell her.

"Good" she smiles. The next ten minutes are spent in a comfortable silence as we eat our dinner. To be honest though I'm not really eating mine; I'm more just moving it around the plate. "Are you done or are you still eating?" Brittany asks.

"No I'm done" I reply. "The food was lovely Britt but I'm just not in the mood to eat, I'm sorry" I tell her.

"Don't worry about it, I can see how hard a day you've had judging by how tired you look right now" she points out. "Hey if you need to go and do some things then go and do them, I'll clear away the plates" she tells me.

"Are you sure you don't mind?" I ask.

"Of course I don't so on you go" she smiles.

"Thanks Britt" I smile back.

"Just let me know if you need anything" she says and I nod before leaving. I must have spent about an hour in the study alone trying to sort things for the party before I see Brittany again.

"Hey" she says coming over to behind me where she starts massaging my shoulders.

"Remind me again why I left everything to the last minute for this party" I ask getting annoyed with myself.

"You just misjudged things babe, don't be too hard on yourself because it's going to be a great party anyway. As long as everyone is there and there's plenty of alcohol then it's going to be fine. No one expects a big affair, it's just a nice party to get in the Christmas spirit and have fun" she replies.

"Being so busy at work today has really threw me off" I sigh. "The arrangements for the party would have all been sorted if it wasn't for today being so hectic at work."

"Honey, I've set up a relaxing bath for you upstairs so you go up and I'll finish whatever you're doing down here" she tells me.

"I appreciate you doing that but I really don't have time for a bath right now. I'm waiting on the caterer for Saturday night calling me back to finalise the arrangements of when they're going to deliver the food to me" I tell her.

"I can do that babe, I'm not back to work until Wednesday because of the holidays so you might as well use me while I'm here and free" Brittany smiles.

"But you don't know the…"

"Honey all I need is the list you made of the things you ordered so stop stressing, just let me handle this" she says kissing me.

"Ok, fine" I sigh. "I really could do with relaxing for 10 minutes" I say.

"I know you could so go upstairs and I'll handle this" she says.

"Thank you babe, I love you so much" I tell her while kissing her head.

"I love you too" she laughs as I race out the door to head upstairs to take a bath.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Saturday 22nd December 2018

Brittany was amazing the last two days helping me finalise everything for the party. Everything eventually went to plan so now everyone is here and enjoying the party which I'm really glad about.

"I seriously can't stop staring at you in that dress, you look fantastic" Brittany smiles while leaning over to kiss me.

"Thank you" I smile. "I'm loving your dress too."

"Thanks" she says winking at me. "So what are you doing in here?" she asks.

"I'm just getting a drink, do you want one?" I ask.

"No I better not, my parents are hovering around somewhere so if they caught me with alcohol they wouldn't be happy. I'll be 21 in two months but apparently I still can't have one glass of something" she says.

"I won't tell if you don't" I smile.

"No I really shouldn't" she shakes her head. "To be honest I haven't been feeling terribly great tonight so I should really just stick to water" she says.

"Are you ok?" I ask concerned.

"I think I just ate something dodgy, that's all" she smiles.

"Wait it's not the catering from tonight is it because everyone has been eating that food? Shit what happens if everyone gets food poisoning at my party, that really would be a total disaster" I say slightly panicked.

"Relax, I haven't eaten any of party food yet so it can't be the catering" she reassures me.

"Ok, phew" I say relieved.

"I think it was something I ate yesterday because I woke up feeling quite sick this morning" she tells me.

"Let's hope it passes soon then because Christmas is in a few days and it'd be a shame to miss out on all the good Christmas food that our parents are preparing" I say.

"Yeah I'm hoping it's just a 24 hour thing and it'll be away by tomorrow" she says. "Anyway I'm going to talk to Rachel and Mercedes just now because I haven't talked much to them since they arrived" Brittany tells me.

"That's cool, I might actually go and talk to Quinn. She looks bored standing over there alone" I say.

"Ok" Brittany kisses me and then we go our separate ways.

"Hew how is my little niece or nephew getting on?" I ask Quinn as stand next to her. We still don't know what she's having yet because Jason doesn't want to find out the sex of the baby until it's born.

"They're fine, kicking like mad but fine all the same" she smiles while placing her hand on her baby bump.

"It won't be long until they're here, you're almost 30 weeks now so a couple of months away" I say.

"I know and I'm getting really excited now" she says.

"Me too" I smile. "So everything is going well then?"

"Yeah mostly" she says. "I mean don't get me wrong, I love that Jason wants to wait to find out the sex until the baby is here but it's making things difficult just now because I can't get prepared because I don't know if I'm buying girl things or boy things" she tells me.

"Yeah that must be a pain, I never really thought of that" I say.

"Other than that everything is fine though" she smiles. "So anyway, are you all set for Christmas? Jason said everyone is going to your parent's house this year."

"Yeah most of us are all going to my parent's house. Brittany's parents and siblings are coming too which is good" I reply.

"Quinn I'm sorry but I'm going to have to ask you to move" Brittany says coming up to us. "You and Santana are standing right under mistletoe and I'm afraid I can't let you kiss my fiancée, those lips belong to me and only me" she states.

"Oh right, sorry" Quinn laughs while taking a step back.

"I know you like Lopez's but this one is well and truly unavailable" Brittany teases as she wraps her arm around me.

"Oh ha-ha" Quinn pretends to glare.

"Come on I've seen those looks that you give Jason, in fact I used to constantly look like that at Santana" Brittany says.

"I don't give Jason any kind of looks so I don't know what you're talking about" Quinn replies.

"Brittany is just winding you up, don't worry about it" I reassure Quinn.

"Yeah she better be just winding me up" Quinn says slightly defensively.

"Sorry to interrupt your conversation but mom is looking for you Brittany" Emma says as she approaches us.

"Um…ok" Brittany says confused. "What does she want?" she asks.

"I have no idea, she just came over to ask me where you were" Emma replies.

"I better go and find her then" Brittany says before going to find her mom with Emma.

* * *

Brittany's POV

"Hey mom, were you looking for me?" I ask as Emma and I go over to our mom.

"Yes sweetheart, your father has been called into surgery so he's had to go. They need some extra hands at the hospital because there's been a bus crash so I'm going to have to go too" she tells us.

"Oh that's a shame" I say sadly.

"I'm sorry sweetheart but there's just no one else to cover tonight because some of the other staff had organised a Christmas party tonight so your dad was on-call" my mom says.

"That's ok mom, I know you'd both stay if you could" I say. "I'm just glad you could make it for a little while."

"Tell Santana we're sorry too, it's a great party tonight" she says.

"I'll tell her" I smile. "Hey feel free to come back later if you want if the surgery doesn't go on too long" I tell her.

"Yeah we might just do that but if we don't enjoy the rest of your night and we'll see you soon ok" she says kissing the top of my head and then Emma's before leaving. I was about to make my way back over to Quinn and Santana when I realised Quinn was standing alone again, I guess Santana went somewhere else.

"Gotcha!" I exclaim coming up behind Quinn.

"Jeez Brittany you nearly scared the life out of me. Has no one ever told you not to make a pregnant lady's heart race like that?" Quinn states.

"I make everyone's heart race" I smirk.

"How many drinks have you had?" Quinn asks while looking at me.

"None actually, I was just messing with you but I know what you mean. You were talking about your heart racing because I gave you a fright not because you were excited around me" I say.

"So why did you give me a fright?" she asks.

"It wasn't a fright I meant to give you, I was just pointing out that I saw you and what you were doing" I state.

"I didn't think I was doing anything" she says.

"I know you like him Quinn. Santana's not here right now so you can be honest with me" I tell her.

"Like who" Quinn asks but I know she knows who I'm talking about.

"Jason obviously" I reply.

"I don't like Jason in that way, he's just my friend who happens to be the father of my baby" she states.

"Are you sure about that?" I ask.

"Ok fine, I might have a tiny crush on him" Quinn replies.

"I knew it" I say triumphantly.

"Look at him though, who wouldn't like someone like Jason" she sighs. "He's sweet, he's caring, he's smart and not to mention also insanely hot" she states.

"That might be so but be careful though because I'd imagine this would be a more complex situation since you're having a baby together" I say. "Don't get me wrong I'm not saying having a crush is wrong because I had a major crush on Santana, I'm just saying watch what you're doing" I tell her.

"Oh don't worry, nothing is ever going to happen with Jason and I, I'm just feeling lonely right now because I've not been with a guy in ages. Plus these baby hormones don't help either but I'm sure it'll all pass once the baby comes" Quinn says.

"So you don't want a relationship with him then?" I ask.

"I don't think so" she shakes her head. "I mean I sure as hell don't want to be alone for the rest of my life but I've got enough going on just now that I don't want anything serious right now plus Jason isn't into me like that anyway" she tells me.

"Ok, I understand" I say. "I thought for a second it was maybe a little more serious than that so I didn't want you to get your hopes up but if you think it's just a phase then there's no harm done" I tell her.

"Yeah everything is cool between Jason and me" she smiles. "No one can deny it though, Jason is hot" she says.

"Oh god, cover your ears Santana. This is your little brother" Santana states.

"Where did you come from?" Quinn asks embarrassed as she snaps her head around to Santana.

"I was just over there and then I saw you two so I thought I'd come over and make sure everything was ok" Santana replies. "I would ask what you're talking about but it seems I already know the answer" she says.

"Santana I'm not like…"

"I get that you and Jason have grown closer recently but just be careful" Santana says.

"No I was just going to say I'm not into him or anything, it's just the baby hormones right now but don't worry I don't want to be with him or anything like that" Quinn says beginning to ramble.

"Ok" Santana nods.

"So…" I say hesitantly as an awkward silence fills the air around us.

"Yeah…" Quinn says just as hesitantly.

"Hey Quinn I'm not trying to interfere with your life or anything. If you do like Jason then that's your business" Santana says genuinely. "I just worry because I know what Jason's like so I don't want my best friend to get hurt you know" she shrugs.

"What do you mean you know what he's like?" I ask curious.

"Jason is never single for long so he's bound to have had girls since his breakup with Clare" Quinn replies even though I was actually asking Santana.

"Oh you…I mean you know…" Santana says to Quinn surprised.

"I'm not stupid Santana, I know Jason hasn't been single the entire time since Clare" Quinn says. "I also know he would never be interested in settling down right now either especially not with me. We're great as friends who are going to have a baby but that's all it'll be. Like I say it's just a stupid attraction I have right now because I'm pregnant and single, it'll pass" she says.

"Ok so everything is fine then? There's nothing to worry about?" Santana asks.

"No, nothing to worry about" Quinn smiles back.

* * *

Santana's POV

Sunday 23rd December 2018

"Shit, it's too bright in here" I groan while covering my head with the covers as Brittany puts the bedroom light on.

"I'm sorry baby but I can't find my keys" Brittany apologises while hopping about the room trying to put her socks on and look for keys apparently.

"Why do you need your keys?" I ask while peaking over the top of the duvet. "Are you going somewhere babe?"

"The doorbell just rang and I can't find my keys. After everyone left last night I locked the door and brought the keys upstairs with me and now I can't find them" she says starting to get frustrated.

"There's someone at the door?" I question. It is way too early in the morning for me and I'm way too hung over to comprehend anything properly.

"Yeah" she nods. "…oh yes!" she screeches while holding up her keys.

"You found them?" I smile.

"Yeah they were buried under your underwear actually" she states.

"I'm sorry but you undressed me so fast last night, I didn't have any time to see where I was throwing all of my clothes" I shrug.

"What can I say, when you're as sexy as you are its really hard not to rip your clothes off you" she smirks. Before I can even begin flirting back with her, another loud bang comes from downstairs, presumably it's the person at the door.

"Fucking hell I'm coming" Brittany says angrily while marching out of the room. I can't help but chuckle because she's so cute sometimes when she gets frustrated.

 _"_ _Tina…what are you doing here so early?" I hear Brittany ask once I hear the door open._

 _"_ _I'm sorry, I know you two must be hungover and don't want me waking you up but Mike's lost his wallet and we were wondering if he left it here last night at the party" Tina replies. "We've tried everywhere and just can't seem to find it so would you mind if I came in and had a quick look around. I promise I won't be long" she says._

 _"_ _Sure of course, in you come" Brittany says._

 _"_ _I'm sorry again for interrupting but we've got lunch with Mike's parents today so he kind of needs his wallet because he says if his father pays for the whole meal then we'll never hear the end of it" Tina says. "The last time we all went out, I ordered something really expensive on the menu and then every so often Mike's dad made little comments about the price but not directly to me if you know what I mean so this time Mike and I will pay our own."_

 _"_ _Yeah I understand" Brittany replies._

 _"_ _I ordered the steak that night and I remember at one point Mike's dad said something about how the butcher must have been paid a lot of money for the premium cut of meat that I had as if to say the restaurant must have bought it at an expensive price to then sell it at an expensive price" Tina says. "Then I heard him saying something about how he should have become a chef and not a doctor if they can get away with charging that much money for a bit of meat."_

 _"_ _I see" Brittany says. "Hey any luck finding the wallet?" she asks._

 _"_ _Not really but I did find a rather flimsy piece of material behind your sofa, I was going to say it could be a bra or something but there doesn't look like there's enough material there to cover even the smallest of breasts" Tina states._

 _"_ _That's mine" I hear Brittany say embarrassed. I can't help but laugh because I can just imagine Tina's face right now holding up Brittany's bra. I should probably go down and help them look but a- I can't be bothered and b- I'm not even dressed yet and it's too cold to get out of bed._

 _"_ _So where is Santana?" Tina asks._

 _"_ _Upstairs in bed where I must admit I'd love to be right now" Brittany says._

 _"_ _I'll be out of here as soon as I know if the wallet is here or not. I just need to check the…found it" Tina says relieved. "Ok I'll go now, tell Santana I say hi" she says and a second later I hear the front door close._

"It was just Tina looking for Mike's wallet, he left it here last night" Brittany says while getting back into bed.

"I know, I heard you guys talking" I say.

"Oh right, you know the story then" Brittany smiles while snuggling into me.

"Are you going back to sleep now then?" I ask.

"Probably not because I'm too awake now" she replies. "What about you?" she asks.

"Yeah I probably won't be able to sleep anymore" I say. "I'll happily stay in bed with you though" I smile while wrapping my arms around her.

"The party last night was amazing by the way, you did well organising everything" Brittany says.

"Thanks but it wasn't all me, you helped" I point out.

"I know but you basically did it all yourself, I just picked up a few things for you" she says.

* * *

That's it for chapter 8, let me know what you think.


	9. 21

Chapter 9: 21!

Santana's POV

Friday 1st February 2019

It's Brittany's 21st birthday today and I've managed to take the day off work to spend all day with her. Everyone is coming over later for the party that we've organised but before that I want to spoil Brittany as much as I can because you only turn 21 once.

"I'm going to take a quick shower" Brittany says getting out of bed.

"Ok that's cool" I tell her. Once she goes to the bathroom, I decide to just go downstairs and make a start on breakfast. I was thinking since it's her birthday and everything then I might make Brittany pancakes because she really loves them. It's only about fifteen minutes before I hear movement on the stairs which I'm guessing is Brittany.

"What are you doing?" Brittany asks as she wraps her arms around my waist from behind.

"I'm making you breakfast, how does pancakes sound?" I reply.

"They sound amazing" she says kissing my cheek before going to sit at the table.

"I thought once you've eaten then you could open the presents that I got you" I suggest.

"Yeah that sounds cool" she says happily.

"So what kind of pancakes do…oh you're not dressed yet?" I ask noticing Brittany clad in nothing but a towel when I turn around for the first time to look at her.

"I was going to get dressed but then I realised you weren't upstairs so I came down here to see where you were" she replies.

"Well these aren't quite ready yet so if you want to run upstairs and throw some clothes on then you've got time" I tell her.

"Does my attire offend you right now?" she smirks.

"Definitely not so if you want to stay dressed like that then by all means do it" I reply while quickly stealing a kiss before going back to finish the pancakes.

As soon as we've finished eating breakfast, Brittany decided she would just quickly change since she was getting cold. We then got comfortable in the living room and Brittany began opening her presents. Her friends are bringing their gifts to her later when they come to the party but her parents and the rest of her family including me have already given her her presents from us so she's going to open them now.

"Hmm…this one doesn't make any noise" Brittany says while shaking the present in her hand.

"It doesn't so I guess you should just open it and find out what it is" I say laughing. The present is from me so I know exactly what it is.

"Ok" she shrugs while unwrapping the paper from the gift.

"Do you like it?" I ask once the gift is open.

"Are you kidding me, I love it!" she squeals while lunging towards me to hug me. "How did you know this was the necklace that I wanted?" she asks.

"It's a secret but let's just say I have my ways" I smile.

"Ok" she nods while smiling back.

"I actually got you something else to match the necklace, you should open it next" I say while handing her another wrapped gift.

"Oh…ok" she smiles while unwrapping the next gift. "Wow…that's beautiful babe" she says admiring the bracelet that matches the necklace.

"Do you want me to put them on for you?" I ask and Brittany nods. I place the necklace around her neck and then help her put the bracelet on her wrist.

"These must have cost a fortune babe, you didn't need to spend so much money on me" she tells me.

"I know but what else am I supposed to do with my money if I can't spoil you especially on your birthday" I shrug.

"You can spoil me all you want, I have no objections. I'm just saying though that you don't need to use all your life savings just to show me how much you love me" she smiles.

"Honey just enjoy your birthday and let me worry about my money" I say while kissing her.

XXX

"Are you having fun so far?" I ask Brittany as I approach her. The party started an hour ago so I haven't really seen much of her since everyone began to arrive. She's been so busy catching up with everyone and thanking them for her gifts.

"Yeah I'm having loads of fun and I'm so glad so many people could make it" she replies.

"Yeah me too" I smile.

"I know I said it before but I need to say it again, you are absolutely killing it in that dress tonight" Brittany leans in and kisses me.

"Thank you" I smile. "I bought it especially for tonight, you know with it being your birthday and all" I say.

"Really?" she asks. "I was sure I've seen you wear that before."

"Ok so I didn't buy it especially for tonight but it is a special dress" I point out.

"How so?" she asks curiously.

"Let's just say I wore this dress on a particularly special first date I had" I reply.

"Oh my god, I knew I recognised it. That was the dress you wore on our first date together except you had a little jacket on over it" Brittany says.

"Yeah exactly. It's a great dress but slightly revealing in places so I didn't want to come on too strong that night so I wore the jacket to cover up a little" I say.

"Well it looks fantastic on you" she says, "almost too good actually" she adds while leaning in to kiss me. I quickly kiss her back before wrapping my arms around her waist.

"Sorry to break up the moment you two are having but I wanted to give you your present Brittany" Mercedes says holding out a gift bag.

"Thank you" Brittany replies while taking the bag. "Did you come alone?" she asks.

"No I came with puck, Rachel and Sam" Mercedes replies. "Puck and Sam are parking the truck and I have no idea where Rachel went. She was right behind me but now she's not."

"It takes two people to park a truck?" I ask confused.

"No I think they're still fighting over Brittany's birthday present. They both bought you the same thing Brittany so they're arguing over who got it first or something" Mercedes replies while rolling her eyes.

"Oh that doesn't bother me" Brittany says.

"I know but you know what they're like, they're always competing with one another over stuff" Mercedes says just as Rachel joins us.

"Happy birthday Britt" Rachel says handing Brittany a present.

"Thanks Rach" Brittany smiles. "What happened to you because Mercedes said you travelled together?"

"Oh I just had to quickly use the bathroom to…"

"Spare us the details would you" I say and immediately Rachel glares at me. I just love annoying her all the time.

"I was just going to say I was fixing my makeup" Rachel states while glaring at me again. I really don't understand her problem with me. Ever since we met, she just seemed to dislike me so instead of worrying about it, I just annoy her. If she isn't grown up enough to tell me her problem then I'm just going to act immature back.

"Oh here's Sam and Puck" Mercedes says as they walk over to us.

"Happy birthday Brittany" Sam says giving Brittany the small wrapped gift he had.

"Thanks Sam" she smiles taking the gift.

"Happy Birthday Britt" Noah says while leaning in to her. I can only hope he's going to kiss her cheek.

"Uh…Puck, that's not my cheek" Brittany laughs.

"Come on it's your birthday and your 21, a little kiss on the lips won't hurt" he states.

"Yeah you might want to watch yourself tonight Noah because that wasn't a very wise move" I say extremely annoyed. "No one kisses my fiancée like that, are we clear?" I snap.

"Crystal clear Lopez" he replies. I'm not an overly jealous person but kissing Brittany on the lips was not on. I know everyone thinks it's funny and he's harmless really but I just don't like the guy. I mean he tried it on with me the first time I met him but I wasn't the least bit amused. It was before he found out I liked girls and not guys but still, it was weird and uncomfortable.

"Puck got you the same gift as me" Sam states as Brittany opens the gift from Noah after she opened Sam's gift.

"No I actually got the gift first so it was Sam that copied me" Noah says while glaring at Sam.

"I don't see the big deal to be honest, it's just some chocolate you're fighting over" Rachel sighs.

"Look I don't mind that you both got me the same thing because it is actually one of my favourite kinds of chocolate" Brittany says politely. "I appreciate you both getting me a gift so thanks" she smiles.

"There's food laid out in the kitchen if you guys are hungry" I say. "Although I think my dad and brothers are making their way through it so you might want to get some of the good stuff before its gone" I point out.

"I haven't actually eaten since lunch so I might go and make myself a plate" Sam replies.

"Yeah we'll come too" Rachel says.

"Aren't you coming Puck?" Mercedes asks when she notices Noah isn't following them.

"No I'm just going to stay here for a moment" Noah replies.

"You want to stay there and act like a third wheel while those two can't keep their hands off one another?" Rachel questions.

"No I'm just…you know not very hungry" Noah shrugs while staring at the corner of the room. As soon as I look over I realise he's staring at Emma and some of Brittany's friends from college.

"Noah they're not interested in you" I state.

"Oh they're interested in me, I can assure you" he smirks. "They're just playing hard to get."

"No, they're really not" I say laughing when I see one of Brittany's friends glare at him and turn away.

"Puck just go and get some food and stop creeping out my friends" Brittany states while shaking her head.

"I don't want food Brittany" Noah says getting annoyed.

"Well we're going to get food" Sam says while leaving with Mercedes and Rachel following him.

"Is he always like that?" I ask.

"Yeah he'd pretty much do anyone with legs" Brittany sighs.

"Oh men too?" I smirk.

"Don't be stupid Lopez, I like girls and that's all I'm ever going to like" Noah snaps.

"Alright Noah calm down" I say laughing.

"Brittany for the tenth time can you please tell your girlfriend to stop calling me Noah, no one calls me Noah" he says.

"Noah is your name is it not?" I ask.

"Yes but everyone calls me Puck" he states.

"Well I'm just not going to do that" I reply. "Perhaps if you stopped calling me Lopez then I might consider it but as of right now, you're Noah" I tell him.

"Hey did Brittany ever tell you that we slept together back in the day?" he asks.

"Don't listen to him, he's just trying to get a rise out of you because he hates being called Noah" Brittany says.

"Actually Brittany did tell me and she's definitely glad she upgraded when she met me" I whisper to him and Brittany bursts out laughing.

"Whatever" Noah says while walking away in a huff.

"Well done baby" Brittany smiles.

"It's your sister and college friends I feel sorry for now since he's making his way over to them" I tell her.

"Somehow I am pretty sure Emma can handle him" she smiles. "I should probably go and see my parents for a while, I haven't talked to them yet" she says.

XXX

The party is really in full swing now. After Brittany went to talk to her parents, I went to the kitchen to check on the cake that I'll present her with later. I wanted to make sure it looked ok and it wasn't melting from the heat in there. I'm now just getting myself a drink when Brittany comes over to me.

"Do you want a drink Britt?" I ask.

"No thank you" she shakes her head.

"Are you ok?" I ask as she hugs me and buries her face in my neck. "If someone upset you then I'll go and kick their ass, don't defend them" I say while placing my glass down.

"No, I'm fine" she says laughing. "I'm just a little cold that's all" she tells me.

"Oh right, well do you want me to run upstairs and get you something?" I ask.

"No it's ok, I'll get it" she replies.

"Don't be silly, I'll go because it's your birthday so let me just run around after you for today" I say.

"Ok, thank you" she smiles before kissing me.

"I'll be right back in a second, ok" I say and Brittany nods. I then head upstairs to one of the guest rooms where Brittany keeps some of her clothes that she doesn't wear on a day to day basis. As soon as I open the bedroom door, I wish I hadn't because there is Quinn and Jason sitting on the bed making out. "You two have to be kidding me right now" I sigh.

"Santana what are you doing here?" Jason asks quickly.

"Hmm let me think, what am I doing in my own home…?" I say pretending to think. "Do you know I have no idea" I say sarcastically.

"We meant why are you up here right now since most of the guests are downstairs?" Quinn asks.

"I came to get Brittany a sweater because she's getting cold, not that it's any of your business" I state. "Anyway this is my house so you shouldn't be up here right now" I tell them.

"I just needed a moment to myself" Quinn says.

"Ok fair enough, you're pregnant so no wonder you just wanted a quiet moment but it doesn't explain why he's here" I say pointing to Jason.

"He has a name thank you very much" Jason glares.

"What's your excuse for being up here?" I ask him.

"I wanted to make sure Quinn was ok because she doesn't look that well" Jason replies.

"And why are you so concerned about Quinn all of a sudden?" I ask.

"I wanted to make sure everything was ok with the baby" he states.

"Ok and how do you explain your tongue down her throat?" I question.

"I have no idea what you're talking about" Jason says while standing up from the bed.

"Don't lie to me, I saw you two" I state.

"Santana we weren't…"

"Do you really think I'm that stupid Quinn, I know how all of this works. You have a baby together and you bond but before you know it, he'll be back to screwing any random girl he can have" I state.

"Excuse me" Jason says angrily.

"Come on Jason, don't pretend you're ready for this. I'm not saying you won't step up as far as the baby is concerned but we all know you're not ready for a proper relationship" I say.

"What makes you think I'm not?" he asks.

"Perhaps the fact you have already kissed lots of other girls since Clare dumped your ass and Quinn told you she was pregnant" I answer.

"Are you kidding me?" Quinn shouts in anger before storming out of the room.

"What did you go and do that for?" Jason asks shaking his head.

"Are you telling me it's not true?" I ask raising my eyebrow.

"Ok maybe I kissed one or two girls but it didn't mean anything so you didn't need to upset Quinn" Jason says.

"Listen to me, yes you're my brother and I love you but so help me god if you hurt my best friend then I'll do more than hurt you" I tell him.

"You can't threaten me like that" he states.

"Oh can I not?" I ask.

"Whatever happens between Quinn and I is our business, not yours" he states, "so just butt the hell out."

"I won't let you lead my best friend on and then break her heart" I tell him. "This isn't just some random girl, she is the mother of your child so have some respect for her. Quinn means a lot to me so don't dare hurt her" I warn him.

"Maybe you should marry her and not Brittany then" Jason replies.

"I beg your pardon?" I ask extremely angry at his comment.

"You seem very interested in Quinn's business so why are you not marrying her instead of Brittany?" he asks. "You said yourself she means a lot to you."

"She's been my best friend for years Jason, of course she means something to me" I say. I sure as hell don't feel the same way about her as I do Brittany but she's still a part of my life.

"The way you keep meddling in all of this is becoming disturbing Santana. Perhaps you like Quinn more than you're letting on" he says.

"How dare you say something like that, you know how much I love Brittany" I say outraged at what he's saying.

"It's not nice is it, someone making things up about you?" he says.

"What?" I ask confused.

"You just accused me of breaking Quinn's heart which is something I would never do. I would never treat her in the way you're suggesting" he replies.

"But…"

"I think you just need to mind your own business Santana" he says walking to the door. "Oh and I know you love Brittany more than anyone so perhaps you could do the same and have some faith in me and know I would never hurt Quinn."

"Jason I…"

"Leave me alone Santana" he sighs while leaving. I didn't mean to hurt his feelings but based on the past, Jason was never interested in settling down. As soon as I get Brittany's sweater, I head back downstairs.

* * *

Brittany's POV

"Baby what's wrong?" I ask as I see Santana come storming down the stairs.

"This is your day Britt so don't worry about me right now. I'll tell you tomorrow" she replies while giving me the sweater.

"You look pissed off babe so just talk to me. I'd rather know you were ok than not know anything until tomorrow" I tell her.

"I just saw Quinn and Jason making out upstairs" she states.

"Oh wow" I say surprised. Quinn assured me it was just a crush she had on Jason and that nothing would ever happen. She just thought it was all the baby hormones and it'd go away in time.

"I love my brother but I'm worried he's going to break Quinn's heart. He's never been interested in a relationship and once the baby comes it's going to be even more doubtful because he'll be so stressed out with a new baby" she says.

"It's ok" I say hugging her.

"I've really messed up though because I think I've hurt his feelings" she admits. "I didn't mean to sound harsh when I said he wasn't interested in Quinn but I can't watch my best friend get hurt and I can't watch my brother make a big mistake."

"Santana, Jason has told us before that he wasn't ready to settle down right now so no one can blame you for how you feel. I admit myself that I was worried when Quinn said she had a crush on Jason because I didn't want her to get hurt either" I say.

"Every time I try to do the right thing, it seems everyone thinks it's wrong so I really can't win" she sighs.

"Santana I know everything you do is from good intentions so you can't beat yourself up like this. You're just a really caring person so you want everyone to be happy" I tell her. "You haven't done anything wrong, trust me."

"Quinn left the room upset and Jason is pissed at me. I wish I had just kept my damn mouth shut" she says.

"One of the many things I love about you is that you want to make sure everyone is happy" I say. "I know it might seem like you've done the wrong thing just now but in time you'll realise you did the right thing. I mean look at us, I know you thought you had rushed me when you proposed but in the end it actually made me realise I was ready for marriage. If you had never done that then I might not have got my act together and proposed to you. It's the same when we first met, if I hadn't kissed you that time then neither one of us would have realised we did actually like each and could have a chance together."

"You really think so?" she asks.

"I know so" I smile. "Look everyone says things get worse before they get better so it's all going to be ok" I say.

"When you put it like that then I guess you're right" she says. "I should go and make sure Quinn is ok though."

"That's cool, I'll go with you" I say and then we go to find Quinn.

"Hey you ok?" Santana asks when we see Quinn sitting alone outside.

"I was an idiot to think he hadn't been with anyone since Clare" Quinn replies.

"Honey you said yourself you knew what he was like" Santana says.

"I know but then we had a moment not so long ago and Jason assured me that he wasn't with anyone since Clare. He also told me that he liked me as more than just the mother of his child" Quinn sighs. "I'm such a fool aren't I for believing him?"

"I'm going to kill that little shit" Santana says angrily. "I knew all along something like this was going to happen but everyone just said I was overreacting."

"Ok fine you were right Santana but can't you just not do this right now, I don't feel all that great so I don't want to argue" Quinn says.

"Let me go and get you some water, I'll be back in a second" Santana says before going to the kitchen.

"I thought you weren't interested in a relationship with him?" I ask.

"I know what I said but I lied, I really liked him Brittany and he swore there hasn't been anyone else since Clare" Quinn replies.

"Oh, Quinn" I say sympathetically while putting my arm around her. "Why didn't you just tell me the truth?" I ask.

"Because you'd have to tell Santana since she's your fiancée and then I didn't want to deal with all of that. I knew she would think it was a bad idea" she replies.

"Santana cares about you and Jason so much, she's just scared that one of you would get hurt. She cares about others before she cares about herself" I point out. "I know it seems like she's mad at the idea of you and Jason but like I say that's only because she cares. Jason has said himself he wasn't ready to settle down with Clare even though he was with her for years so you can't blame Santana for trying to protect you."

"I don't blame her, I just wanted to believe that she could be wrong because I really like Jason" Quinn sighs.

"Lately I've had some time to think and I've realised that Santana has had to give up a lot for me. I mean I knew she'd given up some things for me but in the last few months I've only just realised how much and the extent of it" I say. "I admit I thought she was overreacting about you, Jason and the baby but now I realise she wasn't. Everything Santana does is for a good reason so I think you should listen to her."

"I will" quin nods.

"Here's your water Quinn" Santana says coming back outside and handing Quinn the bottle of water.

"Thanks" Quinn replies.

"Just tell me what's going on with you and Jason" Santana says while taking a seat next to us.

"I like him, I mean like really like him as in more than just a friend" Quinn answers. "I have done for some time and when I eventually built up the courage to tell him he said he liked me too. We agreed to just see how things went and take things slowly but before I could do that, I wanted to know if he had been with anyone since he found out I was pregnant. He told me no so like the idiot I am, I believed him."

"I hate to say this but I've seen it with my own eyes, I know there has been a few girls since Clare" Santana says.

"I know I should have listened to you more" Quinn sighs. "You're my best friend and you've always had my back so I'm sorry" she says.

"It's ok" Santana nods.

"If you don't mind, I think I'm just going to go home now. Today has been quite a lot so I just need to get some rest" Quinn says.

"No that's fine, I understand" Santana says. "Just text me when you get home so I know you got home safely."

"I will" Quinn says and then heads home.

"I tried to warn them that something like this would happen" Santana says.

"I know you did baby and we're all idiots for not seeing it" I say putting my arm around her.

"I'm so pissed at Jason right now, I don't know what he was thinking" she says shaking her head. "He told her he hadn't been with anyone when clearly he has, now that's messing with someone's feelings."

"Hey wait a second babe" I say when Santana goes to go inside.

"Ok" she says turning around. I don't say anything else, I just lean in and kiss passionately. "What was that for?" she smiles.

"I love you so much" I tell her.

* * *

Santana's POV

Tuesday 19th February 2019

Brittany's not long just got home from work whereas I got home a while ago so I was just lying in bed reading when she arrived.

"I had a horrible night at work" Brittany groans as she gets into bed next to me. "Some idiot called me blondie and I really hate that and then his idiot friend started snapping his fingers at me to pour him more coffee. I mean whatever happened to manners, that's just rude to snap your fingers at someone."

"Come here" I say pulling her closer to me and wrapping my arms around her. "You're home now and I'm here so just forget about it" I tell her.

"College wasn't much better today but I'm so glad tomorrow's classes are cancelled and we have study time at home because I really could use the morning off. Did I tell you I agreed to work this coming weekend?" Brittany says.

"No you didn't babe" I say hugging her tighter.

"I didn't particularly want to but I felt obligated to say yes because they seemed really desperate for cover" she replies. "I suppose it's a little extra money for me" she shrugs.

"Hey how about we take your mind of tonight, I know a really good way to distract you" I say wiggling my eyebrows.

"I could really use a distraction you know" she smiles while leaning up to kiss me. Just as I'm about to kiss back, my phone rings.

"I should really get that, it might be important" I say leaning over Brittany to grab my phone. I would have left it but it's just after ten o'clock and I don't think anyone would call me right now if it wasn't important.

"Ok" Brittany replies before placing her hand on my butt.

"Babe, please" I say and she nods to say she'll stop. _"Hello"_ I then say answering the phone.

 _"_ _Hey it's me"_ Jason replies _._

 _"_ _Is everything…uh…ok"_ I ask as Brittany feels it's an appropriate time to now grope my crotch since I'm still leaning over her.

 _"_ _Quinn's in labour right now…Santana I think I'm about to be a dad and I don't know what to do"_ Jason replies getting panicked _._

 _"_ _Oh my god, Quinn's in labour"_ I say in shock as I push Brittany's hand away.

"Ouch babe" she frowns.

 _"_ _Are you at the hospital right now or are you making your way there?"_ I ask.

 _"_ _I'm there right now but no one else is here with us yet and I don't know what to do. Can you come to the hospital?"_ he asks.

 _"_ _Of course, I'm on the way"_ I say.

 _"_ _Ok hurry"_ he says before hanging up the phone.

"Quinn's went into labour and Jason doesn't know what to do. He's freaking out so I'm going to have to go to the hospital" I say while quickly finding some clothes to wear.

"Ok well I'm coming with you, it's my niece or nephew too right?" Brittany smiles.

"Of course it is" I smile back. As soon as we're both changed into something appropriate, we quickly grab our purses and keys before running out to my car.

"So what's the deal with Quinn and Jason at the moment?" Brittany asks. "I haven't really saw either of them very much since my birthday."

"Quinn thinks it's best to forget about what happened and go with what they had planned originally where they only communicate about the baby and leave their personal lives out of it" I reply. "Once Jason and I smoothed things over, he told me that he only told Quinn there wasn't anyone else because he didn't want her to get the wrong impression of him. He admitted to me that he really liked her but was worried she'd think differently about him if he admitted hooking up with a few girls."

"So basically they really meant nothing to him so he didn't want Quinn to get the wrong idea and think he could do that to her?" Brittany asks.

"Yeah" I nod. "I think he really does like her but Quinn won't let him explain so who knows what'll happen next. All I know is I need to be there for both of them" I say.

"Well I think you're simply amazing so anyone who has you on their side is bound to be ok in the end" she smiles while comfortingly placing her hand on my leg. Two minutes later, we arrive at the hospital and dash inside to find Quinn and Jason.

"We're here for Quinn Fabray, can you tell me which way to go?" I ask as we reach the reception desk.

"Go that way then take a sharp left and she's in the second delivery suite" the receptionist replies and we dash off again to find Quinn.

"Oh here we are" I say as I see Jason through the window. As I go to walk inside I notice Brittany standing still.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"Perhaps I should wait here just now, I mean Quinn will be lying…you know…exposed or whatever. She won't want an audience plus I'd feel just as uncomfortable as she would" Brittany replies.

"I thought I heard voices, look will you just get in here Santana because I'm freaking out so Quinn is freaking out and mom and dad are nowhere to be found and Quinn's parents went out of town last night thinking Quinn wouldn't have the baby until at least another week" Jason says panicked.

"You go babe, like I say I will wait here" Brittany smiles.

"IF THAT'S SANTANA, GET HER IN HERE NOW!" I hear someone scream and by the sounds of it, it's Quinn.

"That's what I'm dealing with Santana, so a little help would be nice" Jason admits.

"Ok I'm coming, you go ahead" I say and Jason quickly goes back into the room. "Honey do you really think I want to see Quinn exposed either?" I ask.

"But she's your best friend" Brittany says.

"I know and that's why it'd be uncomfortable for me. No pressure babe but I'd feel better with you in the room with me, I mean all you need to do is stand well out the way while I help Quinn breathe" I say.

"As long as Quinn is ok with me being in the room then I can be there" Brittany says.

"She'll be fine" I say.

"Ok let's go then" Brittany says so we walk into the room.

"Thank god you're here Santana, Jason has been freaking out which is totally freaking me out. Please tell me I'm not going to have a baby with three heads or something?" Quinn says.

"You won't, it'll be ok" I say as calmly as possible. I'm slightly apprehensive about being in the room right now because I hate to see anyone in pain so I just hope it's over soon.

XXX

It really wasn't long after Brittany and I arrived that the baby was finally born. My parents have only just arrived so they missed the birth but overall everything seemed to be ok in the end. Jason is now cradling the new baby in his arms.

"That's the cutest thing I've ever seen" I say fondly to Brittany. I can't believe my brother is a father now. It seems like just yesterday that I got to hold him for the first time.

"I want one" Brittany whispers in my ear.

"I beg your pardon?" I almost shout in shock while turning my head to look at her.

"I want one" she says adoringly looking at the baby.

"I thought you wanted to wait a while?" I ask. "You said you were too busy at the moment" I say.

"I know but look at that" she smiles.

"You've just got baby fever" I state.

"Don't brush it off Santana, I'm being serious. I want one sooner rather than later" she replies.

"What about uni and work?" I ask.

"You've said yourself you think we could manage and plus who cares about all that worrying when you have something so beautiful in your arms" she says.

"Ok well if you feel you're ready then I'm ready" I tell her. "You know I'll be happy whenever we have children."

* * *

That's all for chapter 9, let me know what you think. I'll probably move the story on a couple of months again so the wedding will be coming up really soon. Also does anyone have any preferences on what their last name should be, Lopez? Pierce? Lopez-Pierce? Or Pierce-Lopez?


	10. Final Touches

I understand not everyone likes the Jason and Quinn parts but they were key to the progression of Brittana's relationship…Saying that now that the baby is here, the Quinn and Jason relationship probably won't be that significant anymore.

* * *

Chapter 10: Final Touches

Santana's POV

Saturday 4th May 2019

Brittany and I are showing our parents around the wedding venue today because we wanted them to see where we're holding the wedding before the big day. We've already showed them around the church where we'll have the ceremony in and now we're going to show them where the reception will be held.

"So mom what do you think?" I ask.

"I think this is absolutely lovely. You really have chosen a wonderful venue for your wedding" my mom replies.

"What do you think about the place mom?" Brittany asks her mom but she gets no response. "Mom?" she says a little louder.

"Sorry sweetheart what did you say?" her mom replies. She seemed too preoccupied with her phone.

"I asked what you thought about the venue for the reception, do you like it?" Brittany repeats.

"Yes its great sweetheart" Karen smiles.

"If you're too busy mom then we can do this another time" Brittany says.

"I'm not sweetheart, your sister just keeps texting me about something. She's having some sort of boy crisis" Karen replies. "I'm telling you, ever since you moved out Emma has come to me with all her boy problems and I'm really struggling to keep up. How did you do it?"

"I just got used to it I guess" Brittany laughs.

"So what about you two, do you think it's appropriate for the reception?" I ask my dad and Brittany's dad.

"Yes it's very nice" my dad replies.

"Yes its lovely" Brittany's dad agrees.

"I've got an idea, how about we take you all to lunch and we can tell you more about the wedding?" Brittany suggests.

"That sounds like a lovely idea sweetheart but we'll pay" Karen replies.

"No we'll get this, I insist" my dad tells everyone.

"Look we can decide later who is paying but let's just get going now before there's a mad lunchtime rush" I say.

"Yeah Santana's right, if we don't go now then all the good restaurants will be fully booked" my mom agrees. We then all head back to our cars. Brittany drove her and me here while my parents took their own car and Brittany's parents took their own. Once we get to the restaurant, we get seated and then order our food.

"So have you decided who is walking down the aisle first?" my dad asks.

"I'll be doing it I think" I reply.

"As soon as Santana reaches the end, I'll start walking so she won't really be there waiting long for me" Brittany says.

"I see and what about a rehearsal, are you doing anything like that for either the wedding or the reception" my dad asks.

"Um…we hadn't really planned to rehearse anything" I say while looking at Brittany.

"But how are we going to know if our speeches are any good if we don't get to try them out beforehand?" my dad asks.

"Mario is right, how are we going to know what everyone thinks of the speeches if we don't get to practice them?" James asks.

"You'll just need to practice them on each other or something because I really don't think we have time for a rehearsal. Plus we wouldn't want to spoil the surprise of what the actual wedding will be like" I say.

"Yeah I agree with Santana" Brittany says while looking over at me and smiling.

XXX

"Baby are you ready to go?" I ask while shouting upstairs where Brittany currently is. After lunch today, we decided that from now on up until the wedding then we would start running together to get in good shape for the wedding.

"Do we have to?" she sighs while coming to the top of the stairs.

"No you don't have to but I'm still going to go a run. I just want to make sure I keep in shape for the wedding and that the dress actually fits me still" I reply.

"Can't we just start all of that tomorrow and just stay home this afternoon?" she asks.

"No we can't" I laugh, "now either come downstairs with me and we can both go on a run otherwise come down here so you can kiss me goodbye because I'm still going."

"I'm too tired to come downstairs" Brittany points out.

"Tired from what?" I ask while raising my eyebrow.

"Sleeping" she mumbles in response.

"Let me get this straight, you're tired from sleeping?" I ask and she nods. "Oh dear god" I say laughing aloud.

"So can we just go running tomorrow then?" she asks.

"Babe we were supposed to start last weekend but I put it off because you wanted to do something else so we really need to start today" I say.

"Ok fine, give me two minutes while I change my clothes" Brittany sighs.

"I'll wait down here for you" I smile. As soon as Brittany is ready to go she comes downstairs and we leave to go for a run.

"So have you had all your replies from the wedding invitations we sent out?" Brittany asks as we run through the park.

"Not all of them but I'm hoping to get them soon. What about you?" I ask. We did send out most of the invites together but I had some work friends that I wanted to invite to the reception and Brittany did too.

"Yeah I think I've got all the replies from the people I sent out to so we can get the food sorted out soon and finalise seating arrangements pretty soon as well" Brittany tells me.

"That's cool" I smile.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Tuesday 7th May 2019

I'm currently still at work right now and Brittany has come by to see me before she starts her shift at the café. She starts work at 4pm whereas I usually don't go home until around five or six in the evening. We had a late lunch together in my office before we took some time to go over a few final arrangements for the wedding. We're now just sitting on the couch in my office, just catching each other up on our day so far.

"So…I took a pregnancy test this morning" Brittany tells me.

"You did?" I ask surprised. Ever since Brittany told me that she wanted to have a baby right now then we basically just started trying right away. I mean she knew I wanted a baby right away so we didn't see any harm since we were both in agreement.

"Yeah" she replies quietly.

"I'm guessing it was negative judging by your quiet demeanour?" I say.

"Yep it was negative and it turns out I was a full week late" she says annoyed. "I tried not to get my hopes up when I was just a few days late because that happens all the time but today I would have been over a week late so I thought maybe I was pregnant. Then when it turned out to be negative I was a little upset but not too much because I thought it could still be a mistake but then later in the day I realised I was just late" she sighs.

"Oh Britt" I say sympathetically while hugging her.

"This must be karma Santana, I mean this is what I get for saying no to a baby in the first place" she sighs.

"Honey you can't think like that, it's going to be ok" I reassure her.

"We have been trying for two months Santana and nothing, the universe is obviously telling me something" she states.

"Two months isn't that long babe so don't be downhearted about it" I tell her.

"I feel like I'm letting you down though, I mean I said no to begin with and then when I suddenly change my mind it just doesn't happen" she says.

"Brittany in no way are you letting me down. Sometimes these things just take time but it's going to happen, I know it will" I say trying to lift her spirits.

"I made you wait and now when I don't want us to wait, it doesn't happen" she sighs.

"We're not miracle workers babe, nothing is ever just given to us so you just have to be patient" I say. "I know it sucks but we just need to give it time and not stress out about it because that might make it worse."

"Ok" she nods.

"Look let's just concentrate on the wedding just now and enjoy that. Once it's over then we can try for a baby again" I suggest. "Just take some time to relax because it's making you stressed out and we don't want that before we get married."

"Yeah maybe we just need a break" she sighs. "I suppose two months isn't that long anyway so it's not the end of the world I'm not pregnant yet. It's going to happen right so I just need to calm down?"

"Exactly, we haven't really tried all that much so let's not panic yet" I say.

"Ok, we'll wait until after the wedding" she agrees.

"It doesn't mean we have to stop trying though, we can just relax and not expect too much to come out of it" I say.

"You're right but anyway I should be going now before I'm late for work" Brittany says while standing up. "I might call you or text you when I get a break or something."

"That's cool babe" I smile.

"I'll see you at home, ok?" she says smiling back.

"Yeah see you later" I say while quickly kissing her before she leaves.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Monday 20th May 2019

The wedding is in about four weeks' time so we're really trying to get as much done as we can before the week leading up to the wedding because we want to leave that free to relax and make any little adjustments on the wedding dresses. Brittany was finished work before me tonight so when I got home, she was multitasking by making dinner and trying to sort out the seating arrangement for the wedding. I told her to take a break from the seating plan and that I'd help her with cooking dinner. As soon as we had finished dinner, we opened a bottle of wine and began working on the seating arrangements in the living room.

"Perhaps we could have my aunts and uncles at that table there and have some of yours over there?" Brittany suggests pointing to the seating chart we have.

"That's fair enough for your relatives but there's no way I can have my uncle George at the same table as my uncle Sylvester" I state. "That is just a disaster waiting to happen" I chuckle.

"Do they not like each other?" Brittany asks.

"That would be an understatement. They're actually my dad's uncles and they're brothers with my grandpa and back in the day my uncle George had an affair with my uncle Sylvester's wife so technically my dad's cousins are also half siblings with each other" I reply.

"Wow…I did not know that" Brittany says.

"Yeah and neither did I until last year" I say laughing. "I always knew something happened between them but I didn't quite know what but anyway we just need to make sure they don't sit anywhere near one another."

"Ok that's cool, we'll sort something out" Brittany replies.

"I definitely think we could put grandparents next to your grandparents because they don't really know each other very well so this could be their way to get to know one another" I say.

"Yeah that sounds ok except my grandpa has bad mobility so he needs to be seated as close to the bathrooms as possible in case he needs the bathroom throughout the night" Brittany replies.

"Huh…that actually causes a problem for my grandparents then because my mom's mom smokes cigarettes a lot so she's going to want to be nearer the doors outside" I say. "Also my dad's dad likes a drink so he's going to want to be near the bar which is like way over there" I say pointing to the bar on the chart.

"Ok well I guess they won't be able to sit at the same table then" Brittany sighs.

"Hey let's take a break right now" I suggest.

"Yeah, it's frustrating me right now" Brittany agrees. "I didn't think sorting a seating arrangement would be that hard but it really is" she sighs.

"We'll work it out babe, don't worry" I say.

"Yeah we probably do just need to take a rest from it and pick it back up later. At least we've made a start" she says.

"Hey, how about we do some other preparations?" I suggest. "I still don't feel like we've had enough preparation for the honeymoon yet" I tell her.

"You know what, I don't either" Brittany smiles while moving closer to me. She kisses me gently on the lips a few times before straddling my lap.

* * *

Brittany's POV

Saturday 8th June 2019

Santana and I are meeting with Eva, Emma, Rachel, Mercedes, Quinn, Tina and Kitty today to make sure that the bridesmaids dresses are all ok and fit everyone properly. The wedding is in less than two weeks so we're hoping and praying that all the dresses are ok and no one needs theirs adjusted. I'm really struggling to focus today though because I keep getting excited about the wedding. I just can't wait to marry Santana and finally be able to call her my wife. I mean I was hesitant and scared when Santana first proposed to me but ever since we did finally get engaged I've just been so excited about the wedding that I just want time to move quicker so I can finally be her wife.

"They all look great, don't they?" Santana says smiling at the bridesmaids in their dresses.

"I suppose" I shrug.

"Do you not like the dresses anymore?" Santana asks concerned.

"I love the dresses, I just love the bride a lot more right now though" I smile.

"Ok, please don't tell me you have been staring at me the whole time when we're supposed to be making sure the dresses look ok on everyone" Santana asks.

"Honey look at you, you look amazing right now so why would I want to look at a bunch of girls in bridesmaids dresses when I can just stare at you?" I smile.

"What is going on with you, we're supposed to be putting the final touches to the wedding and all you want to do is stare at me" Santana says.

"You're sexy so is it such a crime that I just want to stare at you all day?" I ask.

"It's definitely not a crime but we do need to focus right now babe" she tells me. "We don't want any little problems before the wedding so we want to make sure we iron out anything that can go wrong right away."

"I know but all that matters to me now is getting married to you. The bridesmaids could wear nothing and I still wouldn't care because I would still get to marry you regardless" I smile.

"That's sweet babe but I really don't think our bridesmaids will be all too happy with walking down the aisle in the nude, do you?" Santana says.

"Probably not but it's not their day, it's my day…I mean our day" I say quickly correcting myself.

"Still, it's rather a lot to ask someone. I mean I know I wouldn't want to walk down in the aisle in front of lots of people in nothing but my birthday suit" Santana points out.

"I don't know why not, you look fantastic naked" I reply with a slight smirk.

"I'm glad you think so but like I say, our bridesmaids will not be walking down the aisle in nothing" Santana says.

"Excuse me, what did you just say?" Emma asks obviously hearing the end of our conversation. "There is no way I will be maid of honour if you insist on us walking down the aisle nude" she states.

"Brittany wasn't being serious so just relax Emma, we know the public doesn't want to see you like that. We actually want them to enjoy our wedding not be scarred for life with the image of you naked" Santana teases.

"You're very funny Santana" Emma says sarcastically while rolling her eyes.

"Look girls I was only having a joke, I didn't literally mean it so no one needs to panic" I tell them all. "As for your dresses, they all look great" I tell them honestly.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Saturday 15th June 2019

I'm currently trying on my wedding dress right now to make sure it fits properly before the wedding and to make sure there doesn't need to be any little adjustments made before Tuesday. Santana and I still don't want to see one another in our wedding dresses before the big day so I've got my mom and sister to help me today while Santana is at her parent's house trying on her wedding dress. We've decided that the night before the wedding we will both stay at our parent's houses and then get ready there on the morning of the wedding and then come back home that night before leaving early the next day for the honeymoon.

"Huh…that's not right?" my mom says confused after I asked her to fasten up the dress at the back.

"Mom what's wrong?" I ask worriedly.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it" she smiles while squeezing my shoulder in reassurance. I can't say I am reassured though because her face is telling a completely different story, there's something wrong.

"Is there something wrong with my dress?" I ask panicked.

"Don't worry ok we'll sort this" she says.

"Mom just tell me what's going on" I state getting frustrated.

"Your dress is a little tight at the back, we're going to have to loosen it ok but it shouldn't take long and it shouldn't be that hard to loosen it either" my mom replies.

"I don't understand, I had multiple fittings and everything was fine. It fitted me perfectly and I've been working out non-stop in the lead up to the wedding so how can it be tighter on me?" I say confused.

"Honey you've just put a little weight on, it's no big deal" my mom smiles.

"No big deal?" I question. "I have been practically starving myself and I've been running every day with Santana for the past month, I have no idea how I could have put on weight."

"Now you mention it Brittany, I did notice a little something different about you" Emma adds. "Perhaps it was a little weight gain" she shrugs.

"This day just couldn't get any better, could it?" I say frustrated. "I get married in three days and my dress doesn't even fit me, how on earth are we going to get it fixed before Tuesday?" I ask.

"Sweetheart relax, we will sort this. Just you concentrate on making sure everything else is in order and I'll take care of the dress" my mom says.

"But mom…"

"Trust me, it's going to be ok" she smiles before leaving with her phone. I'm assuming she is going through to the other room to call someone who can fix the dress for us at such short notice.

"Actually do you know something, your boobs look a little bigger" Emma points out when it's only her and I left in the room.

"Do you think so?" I ask. "I mean Santana said that the other day but I just thought she was messing around because she wanted to…"

"I beg you not to end that sentence" Emma interjects.

"It wasn't anything dirty, I was just going to say that she wanted to…"

"Nope I still don't want to know" Emma states.

"Ok I won't saying anything" I laugh. "Anyway do you think it's just the weight gain that's made my boobs a little bigger?"

"Yeah I would imagine it is" she replies.

"I've not got anything to worry about have I? I mean this isn't some sign is it to tell me that I shouldn't get married because I'm not good enough for Santana or something?" I ask.

"Brittany of course it's not" Emma says reassuring me. "You are good enough for Santana, why would you think that you're not?" she asks.

"I don't know, I'm just worried because everyone I speak to seems to think I'm too young for all of this" I say honestly.

"You have to stop letting other people get to you, this is your life and you know what you want so stop stressing. If this is what you truly want and you truly feel you're ready to get married then that's all that matters" Emma says.

"It is what I want" I say genuinely.

"That's good then because you're going to be Santana's wife in three days' time" she smiles.

"Oh my god, Santana's going to be my wife" I squeal out in excitement.

XXX

"I have to get my dress fixed because it's too tight on me now" I tell Santana as we relax back at home together after spending the day apart.

"Oh right well I'm sure you'll get it fixed in no time" Santana says.

"I don't understand though because it fitted me the last time I tried it on and I've been running with you a lot and eating better just to make sure I'd fit properly in my dress" I say.

"Honey I'm not being funny but I've seen the chocolate wrappers" Santana replies.

"I don't know what you're talking about" I pretend not to know.

"Babe you don't need to lose any weight for the wedding so if you want some chocolate then have some chocolate" she tells me.

"How did you know I had been snacking on chocolate when you weren't looking?" I ask.

"I accidently threw my keys in the trash so I had to rake through it the other day when I noticed all these chocolate wrappers and I knew they weren't mine so I put two and two together and figured they were yours" she replies.

"I really tried to get more in shape for the wedding but I just couldn't do it. When I get nervous I tend to eat more so I think I've been eating more every time something goes wrong about the wedding. Then I tried exercising more to compensate but I had a lot of work to do sitting down like my essays for college or sorting plans for the wedding that I wasn't getting as much exercise as I wanted" I tell her.

"Britt listen to me, you didn't need to lose weight in the first instance so I wouldn't worry about things. You still look in great shape to me" Santana tells me.

"If I had more time to exercise then I would've fitted into that dress today" I say.

"Honey you just have to stop stressing about the wedding. I know it's easier said than done but if you start relaxing then you'll realise that everything works out in the end. Hey what happened to that person from last week that couldn't care less whether the bridesmaids wore anything or not?" she asks.

"I know, it's just the closer it gets the more excited I get about being married to you but the more I also worry that things won't go to plan" I say.

"The only thing we need to worry about is making sure our close friends and family are all there and that we finally get married" she tells me.

"Ok, you're right. Let's just focus on that" I say taking in a large breath of air. "We have each other and we have two families who love us so that's all that matters right now" I say.

"Exactly" Santana smiles before leaning in to kiss me.

* * *

That's it for chapter 10, let me know what you think. Also I'm just wondering if anyone else has any opinions on their last name because the wedding will be next chapter and it's tied at Lopez and Lopez-Pierce just now.


	11. The Wedding

Chapter 11: The Wedding

Santana's POV

Monday 17th June 2019

It's the day before Brittany and I get married and I can't say I really want to stay at my parent's house tonight. I think I'd much rather stay with Brittany and just have a relaxing evening before the mad rush tomorrow with the wedding preparations. I mean all of the planning is done but it's going to be a hectic day with things arriving like the cake and not to mention it's going to take a while for Brittany and me to get ready.

"Do we have to stay in separate houses?" I whine.

"Yes we do baby otherwise it'll be bad luck to see the bride the night before the wedding" Brittany replies.

"Are you sure it's bad luck?" I ask.

"I'm not a hundred percent sure but I'd rather not chance it to find out if it's all the same" she smiles.

"Good point" I nod. "I guess I should pack a little bag then with my stuff in it" I say while grabbing my nightwear and a few other things I'll need tonight.

"I don't want to be apart from you either but it might be fun to spend the night apart. It'll show us how much we love one another" Brittany says.

"I don't need a night apart to realise how much you mean to me, I already know that" I tell her.

"Ok well at least this way you get to spend some time with your family before you get another whole family tomorrow" she smiles.

"You're already my family but ok" I say while leaning in to kiss her.

XXX

I'm watching TV in the living room with my brother and nephew but I'm still really bored right now without Brittany. It's been a very long time since we ever spent the night apart so it feels strange that I won't see her until tomorrow again. It also feels really strange to be staying in a house with a baby, it's been such a long time since that happened. It's Jason's night to have Harry tonight and plus with Quinn being a bridesmaid tomorrow then she'll be here in the morning anyway to get ready with me so Harry is staying here with us until the wedding.

"Santana can you watch Harry for two seconds while I quickly use the bathroom" Jason asks me while sitting Harry on my lap.

"Wait, what am I supposed to do with him?" I ask because he's been crying non-stop for the last ten minutes.

"Just try and soothe him or something, look Santana I wouldn't ask if I wasn't desperate" Jason asks while jumping around on the spot, obviously desperate to use the bathroom.

"Fine but just hurry up, I don't want my hearing lost the day before my wedding if he is going to continue to scream in my ear" I state. I love my nephew but it's not going to be a great day tomorrow if I can't hear a word Brittany says to me. I mean how am I meant to know what she says in her vows?

"He's not going to burst your eardrums, don't exaggerate" Jason says while shaking his head before leaving.

"You daddy has had to go to the other room so you're stuck with me now" I say while smiling down at him. There's no denying how cute he is, I just can't wait until Brittany and I finally have a baby. "I really hope you're not crying because I'm here because then that'd make me sad and I don't want you to hate me" I say but it doesn't seem to make much difference to him. "Hey how about I make you a deal, if you stop crying just now then I promise you that me and auntie Brittany will give you a little cousin to hang out with soon" I say as a joke really but then suddenly I realise he has stopped crying and is now staring up at me.

"Hey you got him to stop crying" Jason says cheerfully while walking into the room.

"I know but it was super freaky how I did that. I just started swaying him a little and talking to him but initially it didn't work until I told him that if he stopped crying then I'd get him a little friend to hang out with" I say.

"It's probably just a coincidence or something because Quinn can usually get him to stop crying after gently swaying him from side to side. I can just never get the rhythm of it to be honest" Jason shrugs.

"Yeah perhaps it was then" I say.

"So how are the nerves about tomorrow?" he asks while sitting down next to me and taking Harry from me.

"I'm not nervous really, I'm excited to get married more than anything" I reply.

"I suppose you've did all this before so it won't be that much of a big deal right, you know what they say third time's a charm so the girl after Brittany will be the one I guess" Jason says and I immediately hit him on the arm. "I'm kidding obviously, you know I like Brittany" he smiles.

"Yeah you better have been joking otherwise you won't be invited to my spectacular wedding" I state. Before I can say anything, my phone rings indicating I have a new text message.

"Oh Santana" Jason sighs while trying to calm down his crying son who obviously got a fright with the noise of my phone.

"I'm sorry, I must have forgot to put it on silent" I shrug.

"Can you calm him down again for me because I don't know if my head can take any more screaming?" Jason asks.

"I can't, I'm sorry" I say in what was probably in the least apologetic voice I had. I don't mean to be rude but Brittany just text me and I miss her like crazy so I'm not about to sit and help my brother parent his son when I could be texting my fiancée back.

"You sure sound sorry" Jason says while rolling his eyes.

"I am but Brittany just text me and I miss her so I need to text her back" I say excitedly while heading towards the door.

"Fine go then" Jason sighs. "I guess he'll stop crying in a few hours."

"That's not going to guilt trip me into helping so see you later Jay" I say while running out of the room and going upstairs to the guest bedroom where I will be staying tonight. As soon as I sit down on the bed, I open up the text that Brittany sent me and begin to text her back.

 _From Brittany: Hey, I miss you x_

 _To Brittany: I miss you too baby x_

 _From Brittany: I am so bored without you right now. Emma is making me watch a romantic comedy right now and it only reminds me of us._

 _To Brittany: Oh that sucks babe but hey at least we'll see one another tomorrow._

 _From Brittany: Tomorrow isn't soon enough though, I want to see you now._

 _To Brittany: I want to see you too honey._

 _From Brittany: I'm going to my room now and then I'm going to call you instead of texting, is that ok?_

 _To Brittany: of course it's ok, speak to you soon._

It's less than a minute later before my phone rings so I quickly answer it. " _Hey you"_ I say.

 _"_ _Hey baby"_ Brittany replies cheerfully.

 _"_ _Apart from watching romantic comedies with Emma that make you miss me, how has the rest of your day been?"_ I ask.

 _"_ _Ok actually, I tried on my dress not so long ago and it fits me perfectly so that's definitely a weight off of my mind"_ Brittany says.

" _That's good then"_ I smile at myself, happy that Brittany is happy. " _Well since I last saw you my day hasn't been too bad although I'm extremely bored without you"_ I tell her.

 _"_ _What are you wearing right now?"_ Brittany asks which confuses me.

" _Um…my pyjamas, why do you ask?"_ I reply.

 _"_ _I'm not wearing anything at the moment actually"_ Brittany tells me.

" _Very funny babe but that joke doesn't wash with me because you use it all the time"_ I say laughing.

" _It must make you a little hot though thinking of me not wearing anything"_ Brittany says.

" _It does a little but what makes me even hotter is thinking of you in a wedding dress and how much I can't wait until tomorrow comes until I can finally marry you. I can't wait to finally call you my wife"_ I reply.

" _Ok fair point"_ Brittany agrees.

" _Now as much as I miss you right now, I think it's going to make us miss one another even more if we keep talking so perhaps we should just hang up now and just wait until the wedding"_ I suggest.

" _Yeah you're right, I'll see you tomorrow"_ Brittany replies.

 _"_ _See you tomorrow babe, goodnight"_ I say. " _I love you."_

 _"_ _Love you too"_ she says and then we both hang up.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Tuesday 18th June 2019

"Oh my god, you look so handsome" Quinn says smiling as she walks into the room.

"Um…thanks. I mean I'm not dressed yet or anything so I'll look even better in a second but I'm glad you like the hair and make-up so far" I smile. Saying that though, I'd prefer something more like beautiful rather than handsome. Handsome is usually a term you use to describe a male, not a female" I reply.

"What?" Quinn asks confused.

"I know I look beautiful Quinn but I'd rather you didn't call me handsome if it's all the same" I tell her.

"Oh, I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to my son, doesn't he look so handsome in his little tux. It's so adorable isn't it?" Quinn says smiling brightly at Harry.

"Yeah, precious" I say while rolling my eyes. "Look today is my day so if you're any kind of friend and bridesmaid then you'll help me right now and not be gushing all over my nephew" I state.

"Oh relax Santana, I haven't seen my son since yesterday so it's not a crime to say how cute he looks and give him a little kiss" Quinn replies.

"Oh my god, thank you" Eva says while hugging Quinn. "She has been a nightmare and my mom and I just don't know how to handle her right now" she says while pulling out of the hug. "First the makeup wasn't right and then it was the hair and then it was the breakfast we made for her and now she has just finished complaining about how her dad and brothers are dressed."

"Have we got a little bridezilla on our hands" Quinn laughs.

"Excuse me, I'm not a bridezilla, I just want things on my big day to be perfect and currently no one seems to be able to help" I state.

"I thought Brittany would be like this but not Santana" Quinn says.

"Don't talk about Brittany like that, I won't stand for it" I say seriously.

"Calm down and perhaps lay off the champagne because it's turning you into a panicked bride when only yesterday you said you weren't nervous" Eva says.

"I'm not nervous about marrying the girl of my dreams, I'm nervous about my family ruining it for me so I suggest you get your acts together otherwise no one is invited" I tell them.

"That suits me fine then" Quinn smiles.

"No, you're supposed to want to come to my wedding" I whine.

"Look just calm down, everything is going to be ok" Eva reassures me. "Quinn is just joking."

XXX

My dad and I are waiting at the entrance of the church waiting to go inside once everyone is seated. We're here slightly earlier than Brittany and her dad so that I've got time to get to the top of the aisle without Brittany seeing me before she walks down the aisle. We wanted to surprise one another so I don't want to see her in her dress either until I'm standing watching her walk down the aisle.

"Here we are again, huh?" I joke to my dad.

"It might be the second time you're getting married but I just know Brittany is the right one for you" my dad tells me. "She cares for you so much and she loves you more than anyone and you know how much your mom loves you so that's saying something" he smiles.

"Don't you love me?" I ask.

"I do but I like my sons better" he teases.

"Yeah right, I know I'm the favourite. I mean I was the first born so for a short period I was an only child so I was all you had to love" I point out.

"I suppose that's true" he smiles. "The music has just started so are you ready?" he asks.

"Definitely, I've never been more ready in all my life" I smile back.

"Excellent" he smiles. "Let's go and get you married" he says and we begin to slowly walk down the aisle. I have my flowers in one hand and I'm holding onto my dad's arm with my free hand. As I walk down, I can see all of my family and friends on one side of the church and all of Brittany's sitting on the other side. Eva, Quinn, Kitty and Tina are lining one side of the altar while Emma, Rachel and Mercedes are at the other side. Once I reach the altar, I give my flowers to Eva so she can hold them for me and about a second later, the music begins again and I look up to see Brittany walking down the aisle.

"You look beautiful" she tells me as she stands next to me.

"So do you" I whisper while winking at her.

"Who gives this bride to this bride" the officiant asks.

"I do" Brittany's dad smiles while placing Brittany's hand in mine. It feels like the whole ceremony is over within a flash but I don't mind because I still got to marry Brittany.

"I now pronounce you wife and wife, you may kiss one another" the officiant smiles. I don't waste any time in pulling Brittany closer to me and kissing her. I quickly feel her kiss me back and before we know it, there's a few wolf whistles from our guests who are obviously indicating that the kiss was getting too long.

"I love you so much" Brittany smiles as we pull away. "Those vows you wrote for me baby were just beautiful, I couldn't help tearing up when you were reading them out."

"Well I meant every word" I smile back.

Once we left the church and took lots of photos outside with our friends and family, we travelled to the reception in the wedding car while the other guests all arrived via a bus that we booked to take everyone so people would be able to have alcohol if they wanted with the meal. Everyone was seated and Brittany and I walked into the reception hand in hand as everyone gave us a round of applause as we entered. We're now all sitting down eating and chatting amongst ourselves. We decided that the speeches will be better after the meal so that way everyone has had a little to drink so they're more likely to laugh at the jokes my dad and Brittany's dad make compared to before the meal.

"I hated it last night when I was sleeping alone. I don't think I want to be away from you for more than a night ever again" Brittany tells me.

"Yeah I really missed you last night when I was at my parent's house" I reply.

"I suppose it's worth it now that I'm Mrs Brittany Lopez" Brittany smiles.

"That's true" I smile back.

"I can't stop admiring my rings and how good they both look on my finger. I'm never going to take them off you know" Brittany says.

"Perhaps you should take them off to shower though because I'd hate the water to damage the stone on your engagement ring because that cost me some serious bucks" I say.

"Way to ruin the mood baby" she says.

"Sorry" I say laughing before kissing her.

"I understand though" she smiles.

* * *

Brittany's POV

"Everyone it's time for the first dance for the happy couple" the lead singer of the band we hired says through the microphone. "If you both would like to take to the floor" he smiles. I lead Santana to the dancefloor just as the song to our first dance comes on. When we get to the middle she wraps her arms around my neck and I rest my hands on her hips.

"I need to tell you something" I say looking into her eyes. God she is the most beautiful woman on this planet, I don't know how I got so lucky.

"Ok" she smiles while looking back into my eyes.

"I'm pregnant" I smile as we start swaying to the music.

"No you're not, you're just messing with me" she replies.

"I'm not messing honey, I really am pregnant" I really can't stop smiling right now.

"I don't know what to say…I really didn't expect you to say that" she says shocked but happy.

"I haven't been to the doctor or anything but everything is pointing to me being pregnant. I mean I took six pregnancy tests and all six said positive. Then the other day when I was making sure my wedding dress fit properly and it didn't need any little adjustments, my mom noticed it was too tight for me. Initially I just thought I put on a little weight but now I actually think it's because I'm pregnant. Also Emma thought my boobs looked a little bigger and so did you so surely it's because of the pregnancy" I tell her.

"But what about morning sickness, I haven't noticed you being sick or anything?" she asks.

"That's what I was concerned about but apparently morning sickness doesn't start until around six weeks and I think I'm only just six weeks because it's been around two weeks since my missed period" I reply.

"I guess that makes sense" Santana shrugs.

"All six tests can't be wrong can they?" I ask.

"I'd hope not but you do seem to have a lot of pregnancy symptoms so don't worry about not having morning sickness yet. The last thing to do is worry and stress yourself out" she tells me.

"Yeah you're right" I smile. "Hey I've booked the earliest appointment I could get tomorrow morning to see my doctor and I'm hoping she can confirm I'm pregnant before we leave for the vacation tomorrow."

"Ok, cool" she smiles back.

"You're going to come with me aren't you?" I ask.

"Of course I'll go with you" she says leaning in to kiss me. Once the song to our first dance finishes, another song comes on and a few of our guests join us on the dancefloor.

XXX

"Come on, I'm going to carry you over the threshold" I say as we reach our front door.

"No way Brittany" I state seriously. "You're pregnant so I'm not letting you carry me anywhere, are we clear?" Santana says.

"But…"

"No buts baby, I'm just not having you lift me when you're pregnant" she says.

"You're as light as a feather Santana, it won't be that hard" I reply.

"You are not carrying me in the door Brittany, end of story" she states firmly.

"We've had a fight already and we've only just got married" I point out.

"It's not a fight, it's a disagreement" Santana says. "There is a difference baby."

"Ok, whatever" I say brushing it off.

"Look let's just forget about it and you can just let me carry you in the door" Santana suggests. I know there is no way she's going to give up so I might as well just let her carry me.

"Ok fine but just watch you don't trip over your dress and we both end up going flying through the door" I say.

"I'll be fine, don't worry" Santana smiles before quickly scooping me up in her arms. I wrap both of my arms around her neck tightly so I don't fall.

"Um…honey, maybe you want to loosen your hold because I can't breathe properly" Santana says.

"Sorry, I've just got this weird feeling you're going to drop me on the floor or something" I say.

"I won't but the quicker you relax the quicker I can get inside" Santana says.

"Ok" I nod and then Santana walks inside.

"There we go" Santana says while putting me back on the ground. "I guess we should really get to bed now before your appointment in the morning" she says and I agree so once we lock up we go right to bed.

* * *

They're now officially married, let me know what you think. The honeymoon will be next chapter so hopefully I can get that updated soon.


	12. Mrs and Mrs Lopez

Chapter 12: Mrs and Mrs Lopez

Santana's POV

Wednesday 19th June 2019

Brittany and I are currently waiting in the waiting area for the doctor to finish up with her patient before we can go in. I'm so excited but also so nervous just in case it is a false alarm and Brittany isn't actually pregnant.

"Brittany Pierce, the doctor will see you now" a voice on the intercom says.

"That's us babe" I say while standing up and holding out my hand to Brittany.

"Let's see if we're getting a baby" Brittany says excitedly while taking my hand and we walk through the doors to the doctor's room. "Do you know I really need to change my name on the records here don't I?" she smiles.

"Well we did only get married yesterday so I don't think it's that bad that you haven't changed your records here" I smile just as we arrive in the doctor's room.

"Good morning Brittany…oh you've brought a friend" the doctor says as we sit down. I don't think I've ever met Brittany's doctor before so it's no surprise that she doesn't know who I am.

"Yeah this is actually my wife Santana" Brittany smiles.

"It's nice to meet you Santana" the doctor smiles. "So what can I do for you today?" she says turning to look at Brittany.

"Well I was hoping you could run a few tests to see if I'm pregnant. I mean I've took a few pregnancy tests already and they all say positive but I wanted a more definite answer and I also wanted to know what the next steps would be if I am pregnant" Brittany replies.

"No problem, if you just want to sit up on the table then I'll do a blood test" the doctor says so Brittany goes over to the table and sits down. As soon as the blood test is done, the doctor seals up the sample so it's ready to go to the lab. "Ok so I'll get this sent to the lab as soon as possible and I will call you right away once the results come back" she says.

"Wait, you can't tell us the result today?" Brittany asks.

"I'll definitely get the results today but it probably won't be until the afternoon, is that going to be a problem?" the doctor asks.

"Well we were hoping for the results before we went away on vacation today. Our flight is at eleven thirty this morning so we probably won't land until around four thirty in the afternoon" I reply.

"I'm afraid I won't get them that quickly since we have a scheduled time for all the samples to be collected and taken to the lab. How about you call me when you land and I should have the results then?" the doctor suggests.

"I guess that'll do" Brittany replies. "I just didn't want to worry the whole time we were travelling, I'd rather just know sooner rather than later but I guess it can't be helped."

"I appreciate that but I can't change our schedule, I'm sorry" the doctor apologises.

"No it's ok, I understand that" Brittany smiles.

"It will definitely be in the afternoon so just call me whenever you can and perhaps we can arrange another appointment when you get back and see where we go from there, ok?" the doctor says.

"Yeah that's fine, thank you" Brittany says as we stand up to get ready to leave.

"If you've took a few pregnancy tests already and they all say positive then I wouldn't worry too much. It's more common to get a false negative than a false positive" the doctor says to try and reassure us.

"Well thank you anyway" I smile and then we both leave.

As soon as we get to the car, we drive back home to pick up our suitcases and then my dad drives us to the airport. After checking in and getting some breakfast, we eventually board the airplane. We're now sitting next to one another waiting for the airplane to get ready to take off.

"Are you ok?" I ask Brittany.

"Yeah I'm fine" she smiles. "I really hope it's a positive result" she says.

"I think it will be" I say while squeezing her hand in response. "As soon as we land then we'll call her, ok?"

"Yeah" Brittany nods. We're reasonably silent for the remainder of the journey because we're really anxious to find out if Brittany is pregnant or not. Even though I really want the result now, I'm grateful that we will eventually get it today and don't need to wait the whole vacation not knowing because that would just be torture. We're now waiting at the baggage claim for our suitcases to come out.

"Hey baby why don't we go to the bathroom and call the doctor, our bags will take a while to come out?" I suggest.

"Do we have time?" Brittany asks.

"I think we do but if we don't, I don't really care because I'd rather go around in these clothes all week than wait any longer to find out" I reply.

"Ok let's go then" she smiles while excitedly pulling me towards the bathrooms. Thankfully no one is in the bathroom when we get there so Brittany quickly dials the number the doctor gave us that would call directly to her office and then puts it on speaker.

"Hi it's Brittany Pierce" Brittany says once the doctor answers.

"Oh hi Brittany, you're calling for you blood results aren't you?" the doctor says.

"Yep and I've got the speaker on so Santana can hear too" Brittany replies.

"Well its good news ladies" the doctor says happily. "You are indeed pregnant Brittany" she tells us.

"For real?" Brittany asks just to double check we heard right.

"Yes you really are pregnant Brittany" the doctor replies.

"Oh my god, that's amazing" I say while pulling Brittany into a hug.

"I'll leave you to enjoy your vacation but if you want to book an appointment when you get back then we can arrange when your first scan will be and things like that" the doctor says.

"Ok well thank you very much" I say.

"You're welcome, have a good time ladies" the doctor says before hanging up.

"We can finally relax now can't we?" I smile.

"We definitely can" Brittany smiles back. "Anyway let's go and get our bags because the quicker we get to the hotel the quicker we can celebrate" she tells me.

"Yeah you're right" I agree.

XXX

"Hi there, my wife and I would like to check in please" Brittany smiles at the receptionist behind the desk at the hotel.

"No problem, do you have your booking details there?" the receptionist asks.

"We do, my wife just has them in her bag here" Brittany smiles. "Babe do you have the documents?" she turns around and smiles at me.

"Yeah there you go" I say handing Brittany the documents. She then hands them over to the receptionist who starts looking through her computer, presumably to see which room we've been given.

"Ok ladies, it looks like you're in our honeymoon suite" the receptionist smiles while placing the key card on the desk along with our documents.

"My wife and I are on our honeymoon right now so is there any chance you could bump us up into a more deluxe suite?" Brittany asks and I shake my head. It's all getting a little too far now. On the plane she asked if we could move to better seats since we were on our honeymoon and she even persuaded another couple on the bus from the airport to the hotel to trade seats with us so she could sit in a particular seat she wanted.

"I'm afraid our luxury honeymoon suite is actually taken but we do have a regular honeymoon suite free" the receptionist replies.

"Hmm…that's not really what I wanted" Brittany sighs. "Is there no way you could move the current occupants into the regular honeymoon suite and give us the luxury one?"

"Brittany!" I scold.

"I'm doing this for us baby so just calm down" she says while glaring at me for a second before turning back to the receptionist.

"We'll take the regular honeymoon suite, that'll be fine" I say.

"Santana I'm handling this honey" Brittany states.

"Not very well and everyone is looking at us so let's just take the room that's free" I say.

"Fine" Brittany says finally giving in. Once the receptionist finishes checking us in, Brittany and I head towards the elevator to take us to our room.

"Are you sulking babe?" I ask Brittany.

"Of course not but I'm only planning on having one wedding so I'm going to milk it for all it's worth baby" she tells me.

"Ok" I say while leaning in to kiss her.

"I can't believe we're married now, can you?" Brittany asks while pulling me closer to her and wrapping her arms around me.

"Not really" I smile.

"I don't really feel that much different but I do have a permanent smile on my face all the time now" she tells me.

"Yeah, me too" I agree just as the elevator opens on our floor so we leave with our suitcases and head along the corridor to our room.

"So do you want to unpack now or do you want to go for a walk or something?" Brittany asks as we drag our suitcases inside.

"There's no rush to unpack our things, let's just relax or something and go for a walk like you suggested" I reply.

"Ok" Brittany smiles.

After freshening up a little and changing our clothes, we left the hotel and went for a walk around the area. We found a nice little grocery shop so we went inside for a look around. There's nothing worse than being on vacation and you realise you don't have any snacks for the room. I mean I would order from room service but I think it'll be cheaper to buy them elsewhere and just take them to the room with us.

"Can my wife and I get a bottle of champagne please" Brittany asks as we place the snacks on the counter and I frown. She's pregnant so I have no idea why she would want to buy alcohol.

"Can I see some ID please?" the assistant asks.

"Of course you can" Brittany replies cheerfully while digging out her driver's licence. Once the shop assistant is satisfied that Brittany is aged to buy alcohol then he places the bottle in a paper bag and scans the rest of our groceries. Once everything is paid, we leave the shop and continue our walk of the area.

"What's the champagne for because you can't drink remember" I say.

"It's for you, I thought you might like some later. I'll be fine with orange juice or something" she smiles.

"I don't know if I want to be sitting drinking myself, I don't want to get tipsy and take advantage of my new sexy wife" I smirk while wrapping my arm around her.

"Hey if I get my way tonight then you'll not have any time to take advantage of me because I'll be all over you already like a rash" Brittany smirks back.

"A rash, that's sexy" I tease.

"You know what I mean" she smiles while hip bumping me. "Anyway let's get back to the room so we can change for dinner. I'm going to take you to that restaurant we passed on the way out of the hotel earlier. It looked really good so what way to kick off our honeymoon than by dining in a fancy restaurant" she says.

"Ok, let's go" I say and we head back to the hotel.

XXX

"You look amazing right now" Brittany smiles while taking in my appearance.

"Thank you" I smile back. "You look rather sexy yourself" I tell her.

"Thanks" she says kissing my cheek. "So are we ready to go for dinner?" she asks and I nod. We then leave the suite before making our way to the restaurant that was just down the street from the hotel.

"Good evening ladies" the waiter greets us.

"Hi there" Brittany smiles. "My wife and I would like a table for two."

"No problem, just follow me" the waiter says and we follow him to our table.

"Would it be possible to get a table near the window please, it's a lovely view out there so I'd like to look out while I eat" Brittany smiles.

"I'm afraid all of our window tables are…"

"Did I mention it was our honeymoon, we've just got married so this is a pretty special vacation for us" Brittany tells the waiter.

"I suppose I could swap that reservation around and they can have this table and you can have that one over there by the window" the waiter replies.

"That's perfect, thank you" Brittany smiles before quickly pulling the chair out for me.

"Oh very chivalrous, if married life is like this then I could get used to it very easily" I smile while sitting down.

"I'm just keeping you sweet so you can pamper me this week but really when we get back home, I'll stop doing all that stuff" she smiles but I know she's only messing.

"You better keep doing nice things for me otherwise the surprise I've got planned for tonight won't happen" I tell her.

"In that case, for the next two months I'm going to do anything and everything you want as long as I get my surprise tonight" she smiles.

"Is that a promise?" I tease.

"Definitely a promise" she says while leaning over to kiss me. Before we know it, we've ordered dinner and we're just sitting eating together enjoying the first night of our honeymoon.

"There's a free bottle of wine for you ladies to celebrate your honeymoon" the waiter smiles while handing me the bottle after we pay the bill.

"Thank you very much" I say politely.

"The food was lovely, thank you" Brittany says and then we leave. "It was really nice of them to give us a free bottle of wine, wasn't it?"

"It was but this is all a bit pointless though because you're never going to be able to drink any of it" I say.

"Not right now but we can always keep it and once the baby is here I can drink it. I mean there's no way you'd get through all the alcohol we have so surely we can keep some of it" Brittany says. We got a few bottles of champagne and really nice wine that went along with our wedding gifts.

"Yeah I suppose that's true" I smile. "So do you want to just go back to the room now and relax and perhaps we can go out tomorrow once we've had a good night's sleep tonight" I say. We haven't did a lot today but because we were up early for the doctor's appointment and then there's a three hour time difference between here and home then I don't know how much longer I want to stay out for.

"Yeah let's go back to the room" Brittany agrees and we head back to the hotel.

"I'm just going to change and brush my teeth" I say while going to the bathroom once we get back to the room.

"Ok babe" Brittany smiles.

"Hi" I say seductively a few minutes later as I leave the bathroom and lean against the door.

"Hi" Brittany smiles while sitting up on the bed. "You look so hot right now" she states.

"Do I remind you of anyone with the way I'm dressed?" I ask.

"Um not really but like I say you look smoking hot right now. We better be about to have sex because there's no way I can handle it with you dressed like that and I can't touch you" Brittany tells me. She had this fantasy one time that she told me about and I've tried to dress up like the person but I guess it's not that obvious. Not to worry though because she still thinks I look hot.

"What do you say we finally consummate our marriage?" I say while going over to the bed where I wrap my arms around her.

"I say that's a capital idea" she smirks while pulling me onto the bed where I straddle her hips and hover over her.

"Don't you want to at least admire my lingerie first before we get down to business?" I tease.

"I can always admire it later when it's on the floor so how about we get started because I'm so turned on right now by just looking at you" she says while desperately pulling me into a kiss.

"Ok" I smile before beginning to kiss down her body slowly. She lets out a moan as she begins running her hands up and down my back.

"You need to take these off" Brittany says while playing with my lingerie. "I need you in me right now" she moans. I don't waste any time in removing what I'm wearing before leaning down to kiss Brittany again. As soon as I insert into her, I feel her hands on my butt where she pushes me even closer to her.

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Thursday 20th June 2019

"If that last night was what married sex feels like then I want to be married to you for at least another 100 years" Brittany says while snuggling in closer to me in bed.

"I don't know if I'll see a hundred years but I like the optimism baby" I say while kissing her head. "So what are our plans for today?" I ask

"I actually have something planned so I think we should just spend some more time in bed together right now and then we can get organised and go for a late breakfast" Brittany replies. "And then after a gentle walk, I've got something planned for us but I'm not telling you what it is just now" she smiles.

"Ok well it all sounds good to me anyway" I reply smiling.

"I love how sexy you look in the morning" Brittany says before pressing her lips against mine in a passionate kiss.

"Why thank you" I say still smiling.

After spending another half an hour together in bed, we got up and got showered and changed before heading downstairs for a late breakfast. We've just came back from a walk to the beach and now Brittany is taking us somewhere on the ground floor of the hotel but I still don't know what it is yet.

"My wife and I have booked a couple's massage at 2pm" Brittany smiles at the woman behind the desk. I realise now we're at the hotel spa that I didn't actually know existed.

"Ok what's the name?" the receptionist asks.

"It's Mrs and Mrs Lopez" Brittany replies with a smile.

"Ok no problem" the receptionist smiles back while looking through the bookings on her computer. "You're both in room 3 just straight down the hall there" she points in the direction of the room.

"Thanks" Brittany replies while taking my hand and leading us to the room.

XXX

The massage started off a little rough I must say. For being female, she certainly didn't seem to have very delicate hands but it's a lot gentler now which is all the better. The only downside of the massage now though is that I'm lying flat of my stomach with my head through the hole on the table so I can't really see Brittany. As much as I like a massage and it relaxes me, it's not that exciting if I know Brittany is a few metres to my right but I can't see or touch her. I'd rather just spend my whole day with her than have some random massaging me, don't get me wrong though I'm grateful for Brittany for organising this for us.

"Um…" I say nervously. This person is starting to massage very close to my butt and it's getting a little weird now. I really hope Brittany doesn't see because it'll upset her. "Do you mind not doing that please?" I say seriously.

"Are you ok baby?" I hear Brittany ask from the table next to me.

"Yeah I'm fine" I say in the cheeriest voice I can so she doesn't think I'm not enjoying myself. I don't want her to feel bad for organising this and she will if she finds out this masseuse is not doing her job properly.

"Ok good" Brittany replies happily.

I try to relax again but when this person begins massaging my inner thigh and moving their hand up closer to my crotch I know for sure I've had enough. "Excuse me, I have a wife you know" I say while abruptly getting up from the table.

"Hey babe, its ok it's just me" Brittany says laughing.

"Fuck Brittany, has that been you the whole time?" I ask trying to calm down.

"As soon as you got comfortable I asked the masseuses to leave and I took over" Brittany says. "I thought you finally knew it was me after a while."

"I didn't but I must say if that was you the whole time then you're pretty good. I didn't know you gave such good massages" I say.

"It's a hidden talent of mine" she smiles. "Did you get quite a fright though, you must have thought some stranger was trying to feel you up?"

"I did, I thought to myself what kind of place is this. I mean I didn't want to say anything in case you felt bad for bringing me here but man was I uncomfortable" I say chuckling slightly. If I had known it was Brittany the whole time then I wouldn't have reacted like that. I literally thought she was on the table next to me.

"Would you like to lie back down and relax and I can continue?" Brittany smirks.

"I would but I think I'd like it even more if we went back to our room and you continued, I don't want the whole world to see us getting intimate" I reply.

"Why might we be getting intimate, I'm just offering you a massage" Brittany teases.

"Knowing us, do you really think it's going to stop at just a back rub?" I ask.

"Fair enough, let's get changed and head back to our room" Brittany says while quickly grabbing her things.

* * *

Brittany's POV

Wednesday 26th June 2019

The remainder of Santana and I's honeymoon was amazing, we barely left our hotel room sometimes and just lay in bed and ordered room service or spent all afternoon in the Jacuzzi bath that we had in our room. When we did go out though, we went to fancy restaurants, the outdoor pool and we even went to the beach a few times. I'm not a huge beach lover but watching the child within Santana building sandcastles was cute and it was even sweeter when she suggested we come back here once the baby is born and she can teach her/him how to build a sandcastle. It just made me so excited for the future and so excited to see Santana with a little baby. However there was a slight downside to the end of the honeymoon, I started to get really bad morning sickness.

"My wife and I would like to check out now" I smile at the receptionist as Santana and I pull our cases towards the desk to check out of the hotel. "It's Mrs and Mrs Lopez and we were in room 304" I tell her.

"No problem" the receptionist smiles. "Did you enjoy your stay with us?" she asks.

"We did, it was very good thank you" I reply politely.

"Was there any problems with the room you had?" the receptionist asks.

"Actually there was a slight issue, the springs on the bed may have broken" I reply.

"It was like that when we arrived though" Santana says jumping in. I turn around to look at her because they were fine when we got there, it was us that broke the damn things the other night when we got a little adventurous.

"Ok I'll let the maintenance know" the receptionist says. "I'll be back in a second, I just need to get a few forms from the printer that you need to sign" she says before leaving.

"Santana I broke the bed the other night" I remind her.

"I know baby but the receptionist doesn't need to know that otherwise she might have wanted us to pay something extra for breaking the bed. It's best just to say the springs were already faulty" she tells and I guess she does have a point.

"Ah your brains, that's another reason I married you" I smile before leaning in to steal a quick kiss.

As soon as we are all checked out of the hotel, we head outside to board the bus that will take us to the airport. We don't actually have to wait long at the airport either before we board the plane. Santana and I are now sitting together on the plane on our journey home.

"I don't want to go home now, I'm having so much fun" Santana sighs.

"I know, me too" I say putting my arm around her. "At least we have all the wedding presents to look forward to when we get home, we've still got them all left to open" I tell her.

"That's true" Santana nods. "It'll be interesting to see what everyone has got us."

"It's like Christmas with all the presents except it's June and we've just got married a week ago" I smile.

"Exactly but it's better than Christmas because Christmas only comes once a year except I get to be your wife every day of the year" she smiles.

"Now that is true" I say leaning in to kiss her.

XXX

"So did you both enjoy the vacation?" my mom asks as she drives us home from the airport.

"Yeah we had a blast" Santana says while smiling at me.

"Do you both need to rush off home or do you want to come to our house for dinner?" my mom asks. "You can tell us all about your honeymoon."

"What do you think babe, do you want to go for dinner or would you rather just go home and rest after our flight" I ask.

"We've got some time, I don't mind going for dinner" Santana smiles.

"Good" my mom smiles. It only takes another five minutes or so before we arrive at my parent's house and head inside. My dad had already make a start on dinner before we arrived so we weren't waiting too long before we all sat down to dinner. Emma and my little brother are eating with us as well.

"So you both had a really good time then?" my dad asks.

"We did" Santana replies. "It was so relaxing and we barely had to do a thing except get up in the morning and eat the most wonderful food" she smiles.

"Shame about the plane food though, that was a bit of a downer to the end of our trip but it was great apart from that" I say.

"We're glad you had a good time and all but I can see you never mastered the art of keeping your hands to yourself in public" Emma says rolling her eyes.

"My wife is crazy hot so why would I want to keep my hands off of her?" I ask.

"Because you're in public and you could get done for public indecency" Emma replies smartly.

"Oh be quiet Emma" I say while glaring at her. "My wife and I had a really good time so I'm not going to let you ruin our happy time thank you very much" I say.

"Brittany we've established you're married, we went to the damn wedding for crying out loud so you can stop with the whole ' _my wife'_ thing because we're not stupid" Emma states.

"What are you talking about?" I ask confused.

"Every sentence you say has 'my wife' in it so perhaps just stop" Emma glares.

"Leave her alone, if she likes to keep saying it then let her. It's not really affecting you so butt out" Santana says. "I actually think it's rather cute" she smiles while leaning in to kiss me.

* * *

Let me know what you think. They'll have the first scan of the baby in the next chapter and Brittany will be dealing with a lot of cravings.


	13. Scans and Cravings

Chapter 13: Scans and Cravings

Santana's POV

Friday 2nd August 2019

Brittany and I are at the hospital waiting for our turn for Brittany to get her ultrasound. Brittany's one month placement ended yesterday and she doesn't start back uni for a few weeks plus I finish early on a Friday so we decided this was the best day for the scan. It's the first scan we're going to so we're a little anxious and really hoping everything is ok.

"I'm so excited, are you?" Brittany asks excitedly. Even though I just said we were nervous, I can tell Brittany is also so excited to get the scan because it'll be the first time we get to see our little baby. If everything does go well today then we're going to tell our parents. It's not that we wanted to keep it a secret because it has been really hard not to say anything but we just wanted to wait until at least the first scan so we knew for sure everything was good.

"Yeah, I am" I reply with a smile.

"It's the first time we're going to see our little baby" she smiles.

"I know, I feel like we've waited forever until this scan but we haven't really" I say. It's about another ten minutes of waiting before we finally hear Brittany's name being called so we make our way through to the room. Once the sonographer introduces herself and everything and Brittany gets comfortable on the table, the scan begins.

"I'm going to put some gel on your stomach Brittany so it might feel a little cold, ok" the sonographer says.

"Yeah that's ok" Brittany smiles. The sonographer carefully squeezes the gel onto Brittany's stomach.

"It'll just take a few seconds until the machine is ready" the sonographer smiles. "So is this your first baby?" she asks.

"Yeah it is so we're both a bit anxious and excited at the same time" I reply.

"Well let's take a look then" the sonographer says while placing the probe on Brittany's stomach and then she begins moving it around while looking at the screen. Brittany takes my hand and squeezes it tight. I know she's quite nervous by the way she isn't looking at the screen right now. "Can you hear that noise?" she asks with a smile.

"Yeah I think so" I reply hoping I'm listening to the correct noise.

"That is your baby's heartbeat" the sonographer smiles again.

"Wow…" I say in surprise but also in happiness.

"If you look at the monitor here, that there is your little baby" the sonographer tells us while pointing to the screen.

"Babe look" I say while pointing to the screen. "That's our baby" I smile.

"Yeah, that's our baby" Brittany says happily.

"Now from the ultrasound here I'd say your due date is the 27th of January so you're 12 weeks just now" the sonographer says. I wish the baby could come sooner because I can't wait to meet my child but at the same time I'm just so relieved everything is ok.

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Sunday 18th August 2019

Brittany is in the living room and has just lay down on the couch when I walk into the room. "Hey babe, do you want to go for a walk?" I ask her.

"Just now?" Brittany questions.

"Yeah why not baby?" I ask while sitting on the edge of the couch.

"Because I've just lay down on the sofa" Brittany replies.

"Come on, it's a nice Sunday afternoon so let's go for a walk" I say.

"I'm really too tired to go a walk babe" she groans.

"Come on, it can just be a gentle walk. I promise it won't be strenuous at all" I tell her.

"Babe please, I don't want to" Brittany groans again.

"Look I am not having my baby staying indoors all day especially when it's nice outside so come on, let's get some fresh air" I tell her. I know she's been really tired lately but it's been few days since she got some fresh air plus the doctor said gentle walks are good for her so I just want to make sure she's doing gentle exercise to prevent her muscles from seizing if she's sitting down all the time.

"I like staying indoors" Brittany whines.

"I was talking about my baby that you're carrying, not you" I reply.

"Huh…charming" Brittany tuts.

"I am serious Brittany, you need some fresh air. We spent all day inside yesterday and you've been working all week so you've been stuck indoors" I tell her.

"Oh man, why did I marry you?" Brittany groans but I know she's only joking.

"You married me because you love me so come on get that pretty little butt of yours off the damn sofa and go get ready" I tell her.

"Ok" Brittany says before leaving the room to get ready. As soon as she is ready, we leave the house hand in hand.

"Hey shall we make a detour and get some ice cream?" I suggest.

"No, let's go to my parent's house first and then we can get ice cream on the way home and just order pizza for dinner later" Brittany replies. She has been craving pizza a lot recently.

"That seems an awful lot of junk food for my baby" I say raising an eyebrow at her. This causes Brittany to stop dead in her tracks and she gives me a questioning look so I know I've overstepped the mark. "But a balanced diet is what everyone needs so I guess some pizza and ice cream won't hurt because you did have salad with your lunch today" I add.

"Exactly" Brittany smiles and then we start walking again. As we're walking, I gently place my arm around Brittany's waist. "Hey before we get to my parent's house I must warn you, they are obsessed with names right now so are we any further forward on names, for a boy or a girl. I mean last time I was visiting they were bugging me about it" she says.

"Well I like Mia or Ella for a girl" I reply.

"Ok, and for a boy" Brittany asks.

"Aiden or Josh or Liam" I say. These are just a few of the names I have come across so far that I've liked but I do think I want to keep looking.

"Do you think we should find out if it's a boy or a girl at the next scan?" Brittany asks.

"I don't know" I shrug, "I mean it might be helpful so we could plan for the baby coming but at the same time I do like surprises" I say. If we knew it was a girl then we could start picking out girly things but if it's a boy then we could prepare for that as well.

"Yeah I agree" Brittany nods. We continue walking for a little while more before we eventually arrive at the Pierce's. Brittany walks in first and then I walk in, closing the door behind me. "Hey it's us" she says announcing our presence. We hear a faint reply come from the kitchen so we go through there.

"Hey girls" Karen warmly smiles. "How are you both?" she asks.

"Yeah we're ok mom, we just thought we would come and visit for a while" Brittany smiles.

"So how is my little niece doing, is she ok?" Emma asks.

"There's no guarantees it's a girl Emma so you never know, you might just end up getting a nephew" I say.

"OK well how is the baby doing?" Emma asks rephrasing her question.

"The baby seems to be doing ok but I'm absolutely exhausted" Brittany replies.

"And you seem to be having a lot of cravings lately" I add.

"Do you know I had the weirdest craving ever when I was pregnant with you Brittany? When I was pregnant with Emma or your brothers, they were reasonable but something with you was different. I would crave the most disgusting of things" Karen tells us.

"Like mother like daughter then" I chuckle. "Brittany has ate some weird things lately, I won't lie."

"Come on they weren't that weird, they just weren't what you liked" Brittany tries to reason.

"Let's just hope there aren't many more surprises to come cravings wise because I don't know if could watch you eat all those weird and nasty foods" I say frowning at the thought. There's just some really weird combinations of foods that I just know I could never stomach.

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Thursday 22nd august 2019

Work has been really stressful today so I'm so thankful the minute I walk through the front door at home. I've never wanted to get home so much in my life before. I've just took on a new case recently and it's a bit of a nightmare and I'm due in court next week as well defending a client so I had that to prepare for.

"Oh my god food, thank god I am starving" I say while throwing myself to the sofa next to Brittany. Just as I'm about to pick up a fry, Brittany swats my hand away. "Ouch baby" I whine.

"Sorry but these are mine, I didn't think you'd be home yet so I only made these for myself" she replies in the least sorry voice she has.

"So you can't even spare one since I'm so hungry?" I question.

"Nope, definitely not" Brittany replies while shaking her head.

"I would share all of my food with you" I tell her.

"I know you would but you're not pregnant and I am so I'm eating for two" she smiles.

"You do know you're not actually meant to eat for two when you're pregnant right?" I ask. "It's just a myth because the baby is going to survive with just…"

"Honey I'm not being mean but I'd rather eat in peace where I can enjoy my food instead of getting another lecture on pregnancy. I'm doing the best that I can so can we not be all serious right now" Brittany asks.

"Ok, I'm sorry" I say genuinely while kissing her cheek.

"There is food in the kitchen for you, I just didn't warm it up yet" she smiles.

"Thanks babe, I'll go and sort that just now" I say before making my way to the kitchen. Once I've sorted my dinner, I join Brittany in the living room again and I eat in front of the TV. "Hey do you think once the baby is here then we'll start eating properly and at the dinner table?" I ask.

"Yeah hopefully because I think it'll be nice to have dinner together as a family especially once we have more kids. I don't want us to end up always sitting in the living room with the TV on" Brittany replies.

"Yeah me too" I smile.

"So how was work?" she asks.

"It was so stressful tonight, I'm just so glad I'm home" I reply.

"If you want I could give you a message later to see if that will relax you" Brittany suggests.

"Yeah that might work" I smile in response. Once we're both finished eating, Brittany clears the plates away for us. "How much do you love me?" I ask when Brittany comes back into the room.

"A lot, like a lot a lot" she smiles as she sits back down.

"Well how much more would you love me if I gave you this?" I ask while placing a chocolate bar in her hand.

"Loads and loads more" she smiles while eagerly opening the chocolate. "Thank you, you're the best" she says leaning in to kiss me.

"You're not going to share that with me though, are you?" I ask.

"Maybe, I don't know" she teases.

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Monday 26th August 2019

I'm just having a really nice dream when I'm awoken suddenly by a cold draft taking over my body. As soon as I open my eyes, I notice Brittany dropping my boxers to the floor. "What are you up to?" I ask tiredly.

"I'm so horny babe, I need you" Brittany moans as she leans down to take my lips in a passionate kiss.

"Wait you want to have sex right now, at 2am?" I question. This is the most awake I have ever been at 2am in the morning.

"Yeah so badly" she moans again while cupping my quickly hardening crotch.

"Ok baby" I smile. "Why don't you lie back and just enjoy this" I tell her so she moves to lie down on the bed and I straddle her but be careful not to put any weight on her. I lean down to kiss her before slowly moving my kisses to her neck and along her collarbone.

"That feels so good" she moans as I kiss a particularly sensitive spot.

"Is this still ok" I ask as begin kissing down her body.

"Yeah but can you be gentle with my breasts though, they're kinda tender right now" Brittany says while pulling my head up so she can kiss me.

"Of course I will" I smile at her. I then continue kissing down her body until I come to her panties where I swiftly pull them down to her ankles and take them off. Once I get into a comfortable position, I line myself up with her center and slowly insert into her.

"Uh…yeah that feels so good" she moans at the feeling and I quickly start up a good rhythm between us.

"You really weren't kidding when you said you needed me" I tease.

"You really need to move fast if you want me to have any kind of release tonight" Brittany states after a few minutes.

"Alright little Miss bossy, I just don't want to lean on you because of the baby so it's hard to go any faster" I reply. Brittany's back has been troubling her a little so a lot of the time when we have sex, I'm the one on top but the more pregnant she gets the more concerned I get. I obviously can't put any kind of weight on her since she's pregnant so I need to keep myself held up.

"You don't usually have a problem with going fast" she mutters.

"Oh I get attitude as well as a bossy wife, my am I lucky or what?" I say but I'm really just joking.

"If you don't stop with the cheeky comments then I'll withhold sex until the baby is here, how would you like that?" she asks raising an eyebrow at me.

"Trust me, you'll need me sooner than I'll need you" I laugh. "These days it only takes one look at me and you want me" I say. I'm not actually joking, Brittany has a really high sex drive these days, apparently that can happen in pregnancy though.

"You're good but not that good baby" she smiles cheekily.

"Oh I'm that good, look at us right now. You couldn't even wait to the morning, you had to wake me up in the middle of the night because you couldn't resist me" I smile.

"I'm only doing it to make you feel good, you know make you feel desirable and tickle your ego a little" she tells me.

"That's not the reason and you know it" I laugh. "You're doing it because _you_ want sex, you even just said that five minutes ago" I tell her.

"Do you know what, just get off me babe" Brittany sighs. "It's highly doubtful either one of us will get an orgasm tonight so what's the point in this."

"Honey you could have had ten orgasms by now if you didn't start with the attitude" I say.

"Show me the person that could have gave me ten orgasms then because I don't see anyone in this room that could do that" she smirks.

"You're looking at her and you know it" I say smirking back.

"Yeah right" she says sarcastically.

"Yeah it is right" I say while plunging a finger into her still wet core.

"Fuck" she says in surprise since she didn't expect it but I can also tell by her tone that she liked it.

"Yeah you're probably right, I couldn't give you an orgasm tonight" I tease while adding another finger inside of her.

"Can you…uh…can you go deeper" she says through a moan and I quickly oblige. After a few minutes though, I remove my fingers and replace them with my extremely hard member.

"Fuck babe, keep going" she moans, almost screaming in pleasure. As I keep moving inside of her, she places her hands on my hips to bring me even closer to her. It really doesn't take us long before we are both cumming at the same time.

"How was that?" I smirk as we lie breathless on the bed next to one another.

"Yeah it was ok I guess" Brittany shrugs but I know she's just playing it down.

"The way you reacted to that last orgasm seemed like it was more than just ok" I say.

"Yeah I just wanted to exaggerate a little to make you feel good but like I say, it was ok" she states.

"You can pretend all you want but I know you loved that" I smile.

"We should go to sleep now since we're both working tomorrow" she says while turning around before taking my hand and placing it on her baby bump. I shuffle closer to her before kissing the side of her neck. "I love you" she mumbles into the pillow.

"I love you too" I smile.

XXX

I like to have my shower first thing in the morning once I get out of bed because it really wakes me up so that's what I'm doing now. Just as I turn the temperate up a little since it's a bit cold, I hear the shower door open before quickly closing behind me. I don't even get a chance to turn around before Brittany wraps her arms around me and kisses my wet shoulder.

"You're so sexy standing there with the water dripping off you" she mumbles before kissing the side of my neck.

"What are you doing in here?" I smile as I turn around.

"You were right last night, I do need you sooner than you'll need me so what do you say we get a couple of rounds in before we need to go to work" she suggests.

"As much as I'd love to, I really don't think we have time" I say while wrapping my arms around her.

"Babe you can't do that to me" Brittany groans.

"I'm sorry baby but I already slept long enough this morning after you woke me in the middle of the night so I don't really have much time to spare" I reply.

"It doesn't need to be anything spectacular, just you know a quickie" she smiles.

"Brittany…"

"I know you secretly want to so come on" she smiles.

"Fine, let's do this" I say smiling before pulling her towards me and wrapping my arms around her before kissing her passionately.

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Thursday 5th September 2019

I've just arrived home from work and I'm met with the smell of something cooking in the kitchen. I'm guessing Brittany got home before me and has already made a start on dinner. Once I place my keys down in the bowl in the hall and take my shoes off, I make my way to the kitchen to find Brittany. I see her over at the stove stirring a pot so I go over to her and kiss the side of her neck while wrapping my arms around her waist from behind and placing my hands on her baby bump.

"Hi" Brittany says sweetly while leaning back into my embrace.

"Hey" I smile.

"How are you?" Brittany asks.

"I'm good but enough about me, how is my beautiful wife and baby?" I ask, more concerned about them than myself.

"We're good, nothing to complain about right now" she smiles. "Anyway, is pasta ok for dinner?" she asks while turning round in my arms.

"It sounds good to me" I smile. "Do you want some help?" I ask.

"No I've got the food covered but you could lay the table for me" she replies.

"No problem babe" I smile before going over to one of the drawers and pulling out some cutlery before getting two plates out of the cupboard. It only takes about another ten minutes before we're sitting down to dinner. "Do you want water or juice to drink babe?" I ask.

"Water is fine for me thanks" Brittany smiles. I then pour us both a glass of water. "So how was work?" she asks.

"Yeah it was ok, I'm just glad to be home though" I reply.

"Yeah I know what you mean" Brittany agrees.

"Hey I meant to ask earlier, we're agreed on finding out the sex of the baby at the next scan right?" I ask for clarification.

"Yeah I think we should" Brittany nods. "It'll give us time to prepare if we do."

"That's cool" I smile before we fall into a comfortable silence as we continue eating dinner.

"Hey, how many kids do you want?" Brittany asks breaking the silence. "I know we should wait until this one is here but in general how many do you want?"

"My head says two but my heart says maybe five or six" I reply. I would love to have a big family but it's Brittany that's going to have to go through each pregnancy so it depends how many she wants. "What about you?" I ask.

"Well I did really want a big family" Brittany says. "We can think about it" she says and I nod.

"How long do you think we should wait before the next one?" I ask.

"I don't know but let's just take it one at a time just now" Brittany says. "I mean of course I'm happy and everything that we're getting a baby soon but I think once it's here, I want to focus on my career again. The baby is due the middle to end of January so I've basically still got semester of uni to do so I want to concentrate on that and graduating first then hopefully land a full time job" she says.

"Yeah that makes sense babe" I smile. It is going to be tough when Brittany goes back to university after the baby because it's not like she's going to be on maternity leave or anything from there. I mean yeah she will be from work but she didn't want to have to defer to next year for this last semester so shortly after the baby is here she'll be back to college. She's arranged it with her professors that she'll take the first two weeks off and then she'll go back. It's not like she has classes five days a week or anything so we'll work through it even though it'll be tough.

XXX

"Hey why don't I tidy up the dishes" I offer once we've finished dinner. "You can go for a relaxing bath or something if you want."

"Do I smell?" Brittany smirks.

"Of course not, I just thought you might want to have a bath and relax" I smile.

"Thanks for the offer but I'm not really in the mood for a bath, I'd rather just relax in front of the TV or something" she replies.

"Ok well why don't you just go and change into something comfier and I'll join you in front of the TV once I'm done cleaning up" I say.

"Are you sure you don't want any help clearing up the plates?" Brittany asks as she stands up from the table.

"No it's fine, you go and relax" I tell her.

"Ok" Brittany smiles before leaving the room. It only takes about ten minutes before we're sat down together in the living room on the sofa watching TV.

"Hey I think I might call my mom now actually, she called earlier but I missed the call" I say to Brittany before lifting the phone from its cradle.

"That's cool babe" Brittany smiles.

" _Hello_ " my mom says on the other end of the phone.

" _Hey mom, it's me_ " I greet her.

" _Oh hi sweetie, how are you and Brittany?"_ she asks.

 _"_ _Yeah we're doing good mom"_ I reply. _"I missed your call earlier so what's up?"_

" _Well your dad and I were thinking it's been a few days since we've seen you both so why don't you come for dinner this weekend if you're free?"_ my mom suggests.

" _Yeah that sounds good, we should be free so we'll be there_ " I reply.

" _Good, so how are things with the baby. Brittany will be having another scan soon, won't she?"_ my mom says.

" _Yeah we've got the scan in a couple of weeks but so far everything seems to be going well_ " I reply. " _Before you ask though mom, yes we will find out if it's a boy or a girl at the next scan_ " I say laughing because I know she was just about to ask me that.

" _Ok good"_ she replies. " _What about names yet, I was speaking to Karen the other day and we were hoping you two would have narrowed down the list of baby names?"_

" _We're working on it mom but as soon as we decide we'll let you know_ " I smile. " _Look I better go now but take care and tell dad I said hi_."

" _Ok, night sweetheart_ " she replies before we both hang up.

* * *

Brittany's POV

Friday 20th September 2019

I'm twenty weeks pregnant now so Santana is driving us to the hospital for our second scan of the baby. I think we're going to finally find out the sex of the baby so soon we'll be able to start preparing the room and buying clothes. I've really wanted this scan for a while now because I haven't really felt the baby move yet which was a bit concerning but Santana said a lot of people don't usually feel the baby move until later in pregnancy if it's their first baby so I'm hoping she's right.

"Sorry I'm late baby, my meeting ran on" Santana says rushing in the door. "Have I got time to quickly freshen up and change or do we need to go right away?" she asks.

"No we've got some time so do what you need to do" I smile.

"Ok, I won't be long" she says while quickly kissing my cheek before running upstairs to get ready. As soon as we are ready, we leave for the hospital. We're actually taken pretty quickly for our appointment so we don't have to wait long before we're called.

"How are we today Brittany?" the sonographer cheerfully asks me.

"Yeah I'm doing ok" I reply.

"Good, well if you want to just lie down and lift your shirt up, I will put some gel on your stomach" the sonographer says and I do what she asks. Once the gel is on, she places the probe on my stomach like the last time and begins moving it around. It feels like an eternity that we're waiting in silence for but as soon as I hear that noise of the baby's heartbeat I just start crying. It just came over me so suddenly and I couldn't stop myself. All the worrying had been building up inside and now I can hear the baby's heartbeat and I'm just so happy.

"Hey, it's ok" Santana smiles while wiping a few tears away from my cheeks with her thumb.

"There is you're healthy baby" the sonographer smiles. "Would you like to know the sex?" she asks.

"Definitely" Santana smiles while squeezing my hand.

"I'm pleased to tell you that you're having a boy" the sonographer smiles again.

"Do you hear that babe, we're having a son" Santana smiles while leaning over to kiss me.

"I'll get a couple of pictures of the ultrasound printed off for you" the sonographer smiles.

"Thank you" Santana smiles back. I'm just sort of lost for words right now because I was so nervous before that all my emotions have just came out at the one time and I don't know how to feel right this second. I'm happy that everything is ok and that I know we're having a boy but I'm also so annoyed at myself for getting so worked up beforehand.

"You had a feeling it might be a boy didn't you?" I ask Santana.

"I did so now you owe me twenty bucks because you thought it would be a girl" she smiles.

"Ok but you better buy me something good with those twenty bucks" I tell her.

"No I think I'm going to keep it for myself and buy myself something nice as a surprise for being right" she teases.

"How about you just buy the baby something with it?" I suggest.

"Yeah that's probably better" Santana smiles before kissing me.

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Saturday 5th October 2019

I'm just lying in bed watching Santana as she gets ready for work. It kinda sucks today because even though it's a Saturday, Santana still needs to go into work to do a few things. I tried to persuade her not to go because I wanted us to do something fun together but she said she really needed to work otherwise it'd cause a lot of problems next week if she didn't sort through a few things today so I respect that.

"I won't be there all day hopefully" Santana reassures me. "I'm leaving just after eight though" she tells me.

"Ok babe" I smile.

"Do you have anything planned while I'm gone?" Santana asks.

"Not really but I am looking forward to getting the whole bed to myself" I smile.

"Well I better be going now but like I say, I hope I'm not too long" Santana says before leaning over the bed to kiss me. "See you later" she smiles.

"Bye" I smile back.

Once Santana left for work, I stayed in bed for another hour before getting up to have a shower. I then did some laundry and ironed a few things. I was thinking about sorting some baby things but then I thought Santana might like to do that with me so I thought I'd wait just now. She's wanted a baby for so long and because it's our first child then everything is all exciting and new so I think she'd like it if we did it all together.

It's about one o'clock in the afternoon and I'm just relaxing in front of the TV in the living room. Santana called about half an hour ago and said she'd be home around half past two so I'm just killing some time until she gets home. I've just got absorbed in my second movie of the day when I hear the doorbell ring so I quickly head to the door.

"Hi, can I help you?" I say to the woman who's on the doorstep.

"Um… I'm looking for Santana Lopez" the woman replies.

"Ok…" I say confused because I've never seen this woman in my life before.

"She lives here right?" the woman asks.

"Yeah she does" I answer.

"Ok well is she at home just now then?" the woman asks.

"No she's out just now but I can take a message if you'd like. She won't be long until she's back" I reply.

"Um…that's not necessary" the woman says while laughing in my face. I must say it was rather rude because I was only trying to help.

"What is so funny?" I ask while glaring slightly.

"Just the fact that you think I should tell you what I want to speak to Santana about" the woman replies but I have no idea what that's supposed to mean.

"Look would you like me to pass on a message?" I ask getting irritated with this woman.

"It's personal so I'm not going to tell you what is it so no I don't want you to pass on a message" the woman states.

"Who are you?" I ask.

"A friend, not that it's any of your business" the woman says.

"Ok well like I say Santana isn't here at the moment but was she expecting you?" I ask. I mean she didn't say a friend was coming but maybe she just forgot to mention it or I was half asleep when she said it this morning.

"It's a surprise visit" the woman tells me.

"Ok but Santana doesn't really like surprises so it would be better I told her you called so what's your name?" I ask. I know Santana is entitled to have her own friends and I don't need to know who they all are but there's something strange with this woman. She seems a bit suspicious so I'd rather know who she is so that's why I said Santana doesn't like surprises when she does.

"I'm afraid I'm not going to disclose my name, especially not to you" the woman states.

"Excuse me, what's that supposed to mean?" I ask offended.

"It means what I say, I am not going to tell you my name. I mean who are you anyway, the maid or something?" she asks.

"Indeed I am not" I say extremely offended now, "I'm Santana's wife if you must know" I tell her.

"Wait…what?" the woman asks shocked. She cleanly can't be that friendly with Santana if she didn't even know that Santana got married four months ago. "I-I…I had no idea she remarried" she stutters.

"Well she did get remarried so if you don't want me to pass on a message then I suggest you leave now" I say.

"Just let Santana know that an old friend stopped by and I'll come back another time" the woman says while turning round to leave.

"Ok, no problem" I say.

"Actually will Santana be home tomorrow?" the woman asks turning back around.

"Yeah she should be" I reply.

"Ok well I'll come back tomorrow then" the woman says before finally walking away so I close the door behind her. I really have no idea who she is but I'm sure I'll find out tomorrow.

* * *

Who is the mystery person looking for Santana? Let me know what you think.


	14. Shocking News

Chapter 14: Shocking News

Santana's POV

"Who on earth is that driving away from my house?" I say aloud to myself as I stare at the car driving away. I told Brittany I wouldn't be home until half past two but I managed to get away earlier because Artie said he'd be fine on his own. Once I park up and go inside, I walk into the living room and see Brittany lying on the sofa watching TV.

"Hey" she says turning her head in my direction and smiling.

"Hi" I say while leaning down to kiss her.

"How was work, I didn't think you'd be home for another hour yet" she says.

"Work was ok but I just hate working Saturdays" I reply while sitting down next to her and placing her legs over my lap since she's still lying down. "Artie said he'd manage without me so I thought I'd come home early" I say.

"Well I'm glad you did come home early" she smiles.

"Hey did you have a visitor or something just before I got back?" I ask.

"No not exactly" Brittany replies shaking her head. "It was someone looking for you but I didn't think you'd be home so soon so I didn't think she'd want to stay and wait" she says.

"Oh that'll be my secret lover, don't mind her" I smirk.

"You're not funny babe" she says pretending to glare.

"Yeah I was never meant to be a comedienne" I say.

"Seriously though I've never seen her before and she was actually quite reluctant to tell me her name" Brittany tells me.

"Did she tell you who she was in the end?" I ask intrigued about who this person could be. I'm pretty sure Brittany has met all of my friends so I doubt it's a friend.

"No but when I told her I was not the maid and I was your wife she seemed taken aback because she didn't know you remarried" Brittany says. "But anyways I managed to get it out of her that she was an old friend."

"Oh right, I have no idea who it could be" I say confused.

"She's coming back to see you tomorrow anyway" Brittany replies.

"Ok well I guess we'll find out who it is tomorrow. It's still puzzling though who it could be because I can't think of any friend that didn't know I got remarried" I say.

"At first she laughed right in my face when I asked if she wanted me to take a message because she assumed I was the maid and it was none of my business" Brittany says clearly offended.

"What a bitch, I'll be having words with this 'friend' of mine tomorrow then" I say.

"You don't have to do that, I don't want to cause any problems with you and your friends" Brittany says genuinely.

"Anyone who doesn't respect you in your own home deserves a few words from me, trust me" I state.

"Anyway let's move on, I don't want to talk about it anymore" Brittany says and I nod.

"So what are you watching babe?" I ask.

"Just some romantic comedy, I sort of lost track of the plot midway through so I'm not really sure what's happening" Brittany chuckles.

"I see" I smile. "Have you been feeling ok today?" I ask.

"Yeah but the baby and I have really missed you" she replies. "I think our son wants you to talk to him" she smiles.

"Well I missed you both loads as well" I smile before leaning over so my face is close to Brittany's stomach. "Hey little guy, did you miss me" I say while caressing Brittany's stomach.

"I think he wants a kiss from his mommy" Brittany smiles while gently playing with my hair.

"No I think his momma just wants a kiss from his mommy" I tease.

"Hmm, that might just be true" Brittany smirks. Once I lean up and peck Brittany's lips, I go back to giving the baby all of my attention. Just as I kiss Brittany's stomach gently I feel something I've never felt before.

"Oh my god what was that?" I ask shocked while staring at Brittany's stomach.

"I think your son just kicked you" Brittany smiles.

"Is that the first time you've ever felt that?" I ask happily. This is definitely the first time I've felt him kick.

"Yeah it is but how cute was that. He must have heard your voice so started kicking" Brittany says amazed. "He's certainly going to have you wrapped around his little finger I think" she smiles.

XXX

Once we finished dinner, we cosied up together on the sofa and watched more TV. "You're very quiet, what are you thinking about?" I ask Brittany as I notice her thinking about something intently.

"That woman from earlier" Brittany replies.

"Can you not get her out of your mind?" I say teasingly trying to lighten the mood.

"No, I can't" she replies.

"You'll be making me jealous, thinking about other women when I'm here" I tease.

"I'm being serious Santana, there was just something off with the whole situation" she replies.

"In what way babe?" I ask taking the conversation seriously now.

"Well she turns up here all dressed up and like she means business and she's looking for my wife. It just seems a little weird" Brittany shrugs.

"Honey it's probably an old friend from uni or something moving back here. If she knew where I lived then I'd imagine that's who it is" I reply.

"Do you think so?" she asks hopefully.

"Yeah I mean a lot of my friends from uni moved to other states to further their careers and stuff so maybe someone has just moved back and wants to meet up to catch up with me" I say. I mean it's like the only logical explanation to it all.

"Ok" Brittany nods.

"Did you think I was having an affair or something?" I tease.

"No but I do feel threatened" she says seriously.

"Babe come here" I say pulling her closer to me. "Why would you feel threatened baby?"

"Because she looked ten times better than I did and she wasn't pregnant either" she says quietly.

"Britt, don't be insecure about being pregnant" I say softly.

"But I'm not hot looking" she mumbles.

"Look we wanted kids ok so in order to have children then you do have to get pregnant but it's not like you'd be like this forever. It's just until the baby comes" I say trying to reassure her.

"Are you saying you agree that I look awful?" she asks while looking at me and raising her eyebrow.

"Of course I'm not" I state. "What I am saying is that if someone is pregnant their body will change but it's not permanent. It's just until the baby is born so it's not like you're out of control of how you look because you're not" I say.

"You admit it, I look horrible" she sighs.

"Stop Brittany, I'm saying you look different because there is a growing baby in there but I never said it looked horrible. You're still sexy, you look different but still hot. Honestly babe I'm not that shallow" I reply. Yes she looks different because she's pregnant but I still love everything about her.

"Ok" she sighs.

"I really don't think you need to feel threatened though because I guarantee you that whoever was at the door has no patch on you" I smile. "If this woman is a friend of mine then chances are she's old. She'll not be as young and sexy as you."

"I don't deserve you babe, you're too good for me. I don't know why I get so paranoid all the time" she sighs again.

"Baby it's just hormones but of course I'm not too good for you" I say leaning forward to kiss her. "Look stand up for a second" I say while standing up myself.

"Why?" she asks while standing up anyway.

"I want you to dance with me" I say pulling Brittany into me.

"No I don't want to" she groans.

"Come on baby" I smile while trying to turn her around.

"Why would we want to dance right now?" she asks.

"Because you love to dance and you feel the most comfortable dancing so I'm trying to bring your confidence back because you don't look horrible, you look amazing" I tell her.

"Ok fine but don't show me up ok?" she teases.

"Me and my two left feet will try not to" I smile.

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Sunday 6th October 2019

"I'll need to buy some more bagels when I go shopping" I point out as Brittany and I sit together eating breakfast in the kitchen.

"We actually need more fruit as well babe" Brittany replies.

"Ok, I'll make a list later then and I can go to the grocery store after work tomorrow" I say.

"I'll go with you then" Brittany says.

"Ok babe" I smile.

"Hey remember that friend is coming today" Brittany says.

"Oh yeah" I groan.

"We wouldn't want to miss her would we" Brittany mumbles.

"This is really bothering you isn't it?" I ask.

"Yeah and I don't even know why. Maybe it's just the way she spoke to me" Brittany says. "It was like I was unimportant and not nearly good enough for you. I mean why would someone who is supposed to be your friend judge another person like that. She was so different to you so I have no idea how you two were friends."

"Baby you're the only girl I want in my life anyway so if this person doesn't respect you then I don't want to be friends with them anymore" I say honestly. I still can't think of who this person is but I guess I'll see today.

"Ok" Brittany says quietly.

"Hey I know a way I can cheer you up" I say. "How about we clear out the guest bedroom today and start getting it ready for the baby?" I suggest

"That sounds like fun, ok let's do that" Brittany smiles. I knew sorting out the baby's room would lift her spirits.

Once we're finished eating breakfast and have got the dishes cleared up, we go upstairs to change before starting to clear out the guest bedroom. After a while I realise I'm the only one clearing up because Brittany isn't really interested in the whole tidying thing, she's just having fun looking at all the things she forgot were stored away in the closet in the guest bedroom.

"Honey can you put those with the recycling please?" I ask while holding up a few leaflets. I don't know how they got in here but they're not really of any use so I'm just going to put them with the garbage. "Brittany?" I say again when she doesn't reply.

"Sorry what's that babe, I was too busy looking at your high school yearbook" she smiles.

"I was just asking you to put these bits of paper with the recycling" I reply while handing her the leaflets.

"Ok" she smiles again.

"Why do you keep smiling like that babe?" I ask.

"You just looked so cute in high school" she replies.

"I hope you mean sexy cute and not _cute_ cute" I state.

"Well both I guess" Brittany smiles before leaning over to kiss me.

"Do you know, we should get some new furniture for in here for when the baby comes" I say.

"Yeah we should" Brittany agrees. "Hey I'm just going downstairs to get a drink, do you want anything?" she offers.

"Just some water please" I reply.

"Ok, I'll be back in a second" she says before pecking me on the lips and leaving the room. Just as I hear her about to come back upstairs, the doorbell rings. There's no prizes for guessing who that might be. "Santana!" she shouts up the stairs.

"Ok, I'll be right down" I reply before quickly making my way downstairs.

"Your friend is here" Brittany says as I reach the door. The minute I open it wider, my face falls in complete shock.

"Jennifer?" I gasp.

"Wait, you're pregnant" she gasps while staring at Brittany. "Were you pregnant yesterday?" she asks.

"Absolutely not, it just happened overnight. I grew five and a half months in just one night" Brittany cheekily smiles.

"Wow what a catch you have here Santana, she's not sarcastic at all" Jen glares at Brittany.

"Jen what are you doing here?" I snap.

"Hold on, you mean this is…" Brittany starts to ask but I cut her off.

"Oh yeah, this is my ex-wife" I nod my head.

"Wow, if I had known that yesterday I'd have knocked her out or something" Brittany replies and I can't help but chuckle.

"Oh violent as well as sarcastic, she really is something" Jen states.

"That's my wife you're talking about so you better watch yourself Jennifer" I warn her.

"Ok whatever" Jen rolls her eyes, "Santana can we talk please?"

"We're talking now" I point out.

"It's really important so can we like go somewhere please?" Jen asks. I look at Brittany to make sure it's ok. I know I don't need Brittany's permission to talk to people but Jen did insult her in her own home so I want to make sure Brittany is comfortable with Jen being here.

"It's your choice babe" Brittany shrugs.

"Fine you can come in here but you better be quick ok" I tell Jen.

"Thanks" Jen says while walking inside. The three of us then head to the kitchen.

"The kitchen, how comfortable" Jen states while looking around the room.

"Look it's here or nowhere because you're not getting into my living room and putting your messy paws all over my good furniture" I reply.

"Fine" Jen sighs and then takes a seat as do Brittany and I. "So when is your baby due?"

"That's none of your business" I state.

"Ok well how long have you been married again?" Jen asks.

"Again not your business now get to the point of why you're here" I say. I don't know why she'd come here so I'd rather she just got it over and done with and she can leave again. There is a reason I am not with her anymore so I don't particularly want to spend any more time than necessary with her.

"I'll tell you in a second but can we do it without preggers here" Jen states.

"I've warned you before, that's my wife so stop disrespecting her" I say getting angry.

"You really have changed you know. You never used to stick up for me when I was your wife" Jen replies.

"Look seriously just tell Santana what you wanted to tell her and then leave us alone" Brittany says getting tired of Jen and her stupidity.

"Fine" Jen sighs.

"Um…hurry up" I say after a few minutes of silence pass.

"I'd rather we were alone" Jen says while looking at Brittany as if to ask her to leave.

"That's not happening, my wife and I share everything so anything you want to say to me you say to her too" I point out.

"It's kinda private Santana, like from our past" Jen replies.

"Private or not Brittany knows everything about me so it's both of us or no one at all" I say.

"It really would be better alone Santana" Jen says seriously.

"I'm not joking Jen, either speak now or get the hell out of here" I say annoyed.

"Look I'll just go and take a shower ok, I don't mind not hearing" Brittany says while standing up.

"Do you know I knew I smelled something" Jen smirks.

"I swear to god Jen, say one more word and I'll…"

"Babe relax, she can say what she wants because I don't care anymore" Brittany says.

"Are you sure you're ok going because I'm happy for you to hear whatever it is she has to say" I say honestly.

"Honestly she'll say it faster if I'm not here" Brittany says before leaning down to kiss me.

"Ok" I smile and then Brittany leaves. "Can you just get to the point now Jen?"

"Well there's something you should know about me, well not just me but firstly I should tell you that I'm married now too" Jen replies.

"Yeah I'm married, big deal" I say not seeing the point. I mean I don't know what difference it makes to me that she's married, I couldn't care less.

"I have a husband" Jen says rephrasing what she just said.

"Oh, I see" I nod. "I did always have my suspicious that you weren't strictly into just girls since you cheated on me with a guy but the never the less, I don't care about that anymore."

"I didn't cheat on you with Stephen, we were just friends but he is actually my husband now" she says.

"Ok so you just came here today to tell me you're not a lesbian anymore and you're married to a guy you were screwing when I was married to you?" I ask.

"You know you really do have a problem with listening, you certainly did when we were together as well. Anything I said you didn't listen to it" Jen shakes her head. "I just wanted you to know I was married now as well but there is also something else important that I need to tell you" she says.

"Ok tell me then" I say frustrated. Jen then pulls something out of her bag and places it on the table in front of us. "What's that?" I ask.

"Turn it over" Jen tells me. After a second I turn it over and it turns out it's a picture of a young girl. "That's my daughter" she says.

"And you think I really care about you having a daughter?" I laugh.

"She's four and a half Santana" Jen boasts.

"Seriously why do I need to know about her, I mean if it's to boast then I don't care because my wife is expecting our baby?" I say still laughing.

"She's your daughter" Jen states.

"I beg your pardon" I say as I immediately stop laughing.

"She's our daughter Santana, you're her mom" Jen replies.

"I…um…I don't…" I don't know what to say. I mean surely this is some sick joke or something because I can't have a daughter.

"She is your daughter Santana, honestly" Jen repeats what she has just said.

"There is no way she can be my daughter" I state. I mean it's just not possible for her to be my child.

"She was born in February 2015" Jen tells me.

"But we split up in July 2014 and were divorced by the January 2015 so I don't think she can be my daughter" I say.

"Yes we split in the July but I was already a couple of months pregnant and when we divorced we didn't see each other but I was heavily pregnant at the time" Jen replies.

"You're lying" I blurt out in anger. She's not my daughter, I don't have any children yet but in a few months' time I'm going to have a son with Brittany.

"I'm not lying Santana, I promise you" Jen tells me.

"If she is my daughter then when didn't you tell me about her sooner? You said she's already four years old so why am I just finding out now?" I ask.

"It was complicated Santana, in fact it still is" Jen shrugs as if that's a reasonable explanation.

"Complicated how?" I ask.

"Look it just is complicated" Jen replies.

"All you had to say was, _'Look Santana I'm sorry for being a bitch to you but I'm having your baby'._ That would have done it Jen _"_ I say _._

"It wasn't as easy as that Santana, if it was then I would have just told you" Jen states.

"I just don't understand how someone could keep a secret like this for so long. What exactly did you think you were achieving by keeping this a secret from me for so long?" I ask.

"I didn't mean to keep it a secret, I was scared to begin with but then the longer I left it the more scared I got of telling you because I left it too long" Jen replies. "I was so ready to tell you and everything at the divorce but then I got that job offer and I couldn't turn it down. It was good money and considering I was pregnant I needed the money."

"But I would have been there to support that child Jen" I state because it's true, if I knew I had a child I would have supported my daughter.

"I know what I did was wrong and I'm sorry but I can't change the past" Jen states.

"I can't believe you never told me, I just can't understand why you wouldn't tell me" I say. I know I just said it but it doesn't make sense. Why would you not tell your wife you're pregnant?

"I never told you because we never wanted kids, you hate kids so I was scared you'd make me give up my baby but I couldn't. I never found out until about 12 weeks that I was pregnant because I went to the doctor feeling unwell and then I found out so because I was 12 weeks they did a scan and I just fell in love with that baby so I couldn't give it up" Jen replies.

"Are you joking me?" I ask while angrily laughing.

"What?" Jen asks confused.

"I didn't want kids?" I question. "What planet are you on?"

"What do you mean?" Jen asks confused.

"All I ever wanted was children" I state.

"No, you hate kids" Jen states as if it's obvious.

"No, I don't" I state. "I've always wanted kids. I couldn't be happier that Brittany is pregnant right now and we're about to have a son" I tell her.

"You actually like children?" Jen questions.

"Yes I do so it hurts even more to know you would keep a secret like that" I say.

"Fine ok, say you like children, would you actually let me move to another state with your daughter, you're a lawyer Santana so if you knew I wouldn't be able to follow my dreams. You'd make us stay here and I'd never be able to have my dream career" Jen points out.

"I'm sure we'd work something out" I say.

"Yeah right, like I say you're a lawyer so I would totally lose because you'd find some legal thing that would mean I wasn't allowed to take our daughter" Jen says.

"Look we're off task here, I can't change the past and I am so pissed off with you but we need to get to the bottom of why you have suddenly just told me now" I say. I'm glad I know now but what confuses me is why Jen suddenly just wanted to tell me now.

"I've got a transfer at work back here so all of us are moving back here so I thought you should know since we might see you about and stuff since I am going to be living in the same place" Jen answers.

"And what you thought you better tell me just so I know who the little girl is that is walking about with you if I meet you in the street, not you better tell me in case I want to see my daughter?" I question.

"Do you want to see her?" Jen asks.

"Is the sky blue?" I say cheekily. I think if I have a daughter then I do want to see her, it's kinda obvious since I've always wanted children.

XXX

Jen has just left after we finished our long conversation about our daughter. I just have no idea how I am supposed to break the news to Brittany now. This is such a big thing for me so what is it going to be like for Brittany? As soon as I reach the bedroom, I lie down on the bed and wait for Brittany to come out of the bathroom. I thought she would have finished her shower now but perhaps she didn't go for it right away after she left Jen and me in the kitchen to talk.

"I swear our baby must want to be a swimmer or something because all he did when I was in the shower was move about. It was as if he liked the water or something" Brittany chuckles as she leaves the bathroom. I want to be happy too but I just can't be after what Jen told me. How the hell do you tell your wife that you already have a child when she is so excited about it being the first child for both of you?

"Unless he's kicking because he doesn't like the water" I suggest.

"Oh yeah, I never thought about that" Brittany chuckles again. "Hey are you ok because you don't look that happy?" she asks as she lies down on the bed next to me.

"I love you so much and I love our son so much" I say turning around to face Brittany and I place my hand on her stomach.

"Babe are you crying?" she asks worriedly.

"A little" I reply with a few stray tears running down my face. Brittany quickly wraps her arms around me.

"Jen has left now" I tell her.

"I figured she had baby" Brittany replies.

"I'm so sorry" I say crying.

"For what, baby what's going on?" Brittany asks concerned.

"Jen told me something today and I just don't know how to tell you without hurting you" I say nervously.

"Ok you're scaring me now so can you just tell me please" Brittany replies worriedly.

"Jen was pregnant when we divorced, I've got a four and a half year old daughter" I admit.

"That is some sick joke Santana" Brittany says removing her arms from me.

"Baby I'm not joking, Jen just told me today so I swear I didn't know" I say.

"No you can't have a daughter, she must be lying" Brittany states.

"Honey I was in denial too but the more she told me the more it made sense. It is true that I have a daughter" I say trying to put my arms around her to comfort her but she doesn't let me.

"No this can't be happening. The one thing we could share together was having a child and being parents for the first time together" Brittany says. "You have already been in love, you're already been married and lived with your wife so the one thing neither of us had ever done was have a child. That was supposed to be the one special thing we could share together for the first time."

"I know baby but it's true" I say.

"Please tell me I'm asleep right now and just having a bad nightmare and this isn't real" Brittany says while getting off of the bed before beginning to pace around the room.

"This is real babe" I say.

* * *

That's it for chapter 14. Santana has a daughter but is it all it seems? Let me know what you think.


	15. We Need an Explanation

Sorry it took so long to update this, I had some stuff going on recently so I didn't have time to write but the chapter is up now and hopefully I'll get back into a rhythm of updating again.

* * *

Chapter 15: We Need an Explanation

"Please tell me I'm asleep right now and just having a bad nightmare and this isn't real" Brittany says while getting off of the bed before beginning to pace around the room.

"This is real babe" I say.

"So what happens now then?" Brittany asks.

"I don't know, I really have no idea" I sigh. I don't know what to do or what to think, this whole thing seems like a complete mess.

"Do you not have any doubts at all after everything Jen put you through in the past?" Brittany asks.

"Yes I do have doubts but it does seem a bit contrived if it isn't true" I state. Jen would have had to go to a lot of lengths for this to be a lie and honestly I just don't think she would.

"I know you want to see the good in people but remember everything she put you through. Maybe this isn't all it seems" Brittany points out.

"Yeah I know but if that is my daughter then I can't completely dismiss her" I state.

"Santana no one would blame you if you wanted to look into things a bit more" Brittany reasons. "It's only natural after how badly Jen broke your heart" she says.

"I'm not saying I'm going to just invite the little girl to our house or anything but surely Jen wouldn't be nasty enough to lie to her own daughter" I say. "That would just be too cruel don't you think?"

"It would be but you don't know yet what the little girl knows" she replies.

"Honey you really should sit down right now before you get too stressed out. The doctor did say that stress isn't good for the baby" I say as Brittany continues to pace around the room.

"Ok I will" Brittany sighs while sitting down on the bed.

"I know this is hard for you but trust me, I don't know how to deal with things either. It's not every day an ex turns up and tells you that you've got a child" I sigh.

"I know but I didn't really want or need drama today. The baby has been moving around non-stop and my back is killing me right now. I just wanted to have a nice afternoon sorting out the room for the baby but now we have to deal with all this" Brittany sighs again.

"I don't want or need the drama either Brittany, I've got a big day at work tomorrow so I wouldn't have complained about a relaxing afternoon either but we do need to deal with things now" I reply. I appreciate Brittany isn't feeling well today but we can't just pretend Jen never arrived especially if this child is my daughter.

"We're fighting over something right now that isn't our fault, why does that always happen?" Brittany says.

"I don't know babe but we're going to sort it out eventually, I promise" I state.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Monday 7th October 2019

Brittany and I are both in the kitchen having breakfast before we get ready to go to work. After our conversation yesterday, we decided to just take some time to calm down and agreed we'd talk about things today. We spent the rest of the afternoon finishing clearing out the guest bedroom before I made us something for dinner.

"Babe…" Brittany says wrapping her arms around me from behind as I stand in front of the sink washing my breakfast dishes.

"Yeah" I smile as I turn around in her arms.

"Can you sit down for a second because I want to talk to you" Brittany replies while removing her arms from around me.

"Sure" I nod before sitting down at the table next to her.

"I'm sorry for being such a brat about things yesterday and I know how hard it is for you" Brittany apologises. "It just seems that every time we finally seem to be getting on track then something else turns up to spoil it."

"I know babe" I nod.

"I don't mind if you have a daughter, that's not what bothers me but what does annoy me is all the uncertainty. If she is your daughter then it'll break your heart that you ever doubted it in the first place and if she isn't your daughter then you're still going to be upset because Jen did something yet again to be a bitch" Brittany says.

"I don't want this to come between us Britt" I say honestly.

"I know and neither do I" Brittany replies.

"Jen left me her number yesterday so I could get in contact with her so I've texted her this morning to see if we can meet once I finish work" I say. "Hopefully she'll tell me more and I can finally find out the truth."

"Did you used to think that Jen cheated on you?" Brittany asks.

"I had a few suspicions about her closeness with Stephen but I don't know if that was just because Jen made me so paranoid all the time. I mean he was married at the time as well and as far as I could see his wife seemed like a nice person" I reply.

"Do you think there is a slight chance the baby could be Stephen's?" she asks.

"Stephen can't have children, I know that for a fact" I state.

"But you think that maybe she still cheated on you with someone else?" Brittany asks.

"I really don't know" I shrug. "I wouldn't be surprised if she did because she was a horrible person but at the same time, I don't really remembering her hanging around with anyone else."

"I see" Brittany nods understanding.

"Jen didn't really have a very large group of friends and when she was particularly close to someone then no one else seemed to be in the picture. Basically when we started dating she only really had me and few friends so it'd surprise me if she was with someone else when she was good friends with Stephen" I say.

"Unless she was just using Stephen as an excuse, maybe when she said she was hanging out with him then it was actually someone else" Brittany suggests.

"That has crossed my mind but I don't really care anymore if she did or didn't cheat on me, I just care about the truth about Emma" I say.

"Emma, is that her name?" Brittany asks.

"Yeah, I would have told you but I was trying not to say her name aloud because then it would be too real. I know it doesn't seem respectful if she is my daughter but I don't want to know all the personal details about her because then it'll make it worse if I find out she isn't my daughter" I say.

"It's completely understandable if you don't want to get too close to the girl until you know the truth" Brittany says just as my phone vibrates indicating a text.

"It's Jen" I say looking at the text. "She's texted me her address and says that we can meet just after five this evening."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Brittany asks.

"No it might be best if I go alone, she might talk more that way. I don't mean to push you out or anything but you saw what she was like on Saturday when she wouldn't even give you her name when I wasn't there" I say.

"That's ok, I understand" Brittany smiles. "Just give me a text when you are leaving her place and I'll make a start on dinner."

"Ok, no problem" I smile back.

"I should go upstairs and change now though" Brittany says while standing up from the table.

"Well I should actually be leaving now, I need to speak to Artie quickly before I start work" I say while following Brittany out of the kitchen.

"I'll see you later then" she smiles as we reach the hall before leaning in to kiss me.

"Yeah I'll see you later, I'll text you when I get a break" I tell her before putting my jacket on.

"Ok" Brittany nods before going upstairs. Once I'm ready I leave the house and head off to work.

XXX

I was so busy at work today that the hours just seemed to fly in and now I'm sitting in my car outside of Jen's house. I'm just taking a few moments to gather myself together before I go over to the door. I'm nervous but it's not about seeing Jen, it's about finding out the truth. I just don't know what I want the truth to be, I mean I'd like to go back to my life with Brittany and our baby but at the same time there's a chance I already have a daughter and I can't not know her if she is indeed my child.

Once I do finally get myself together, I exit the car and head over to the house where I ring the doorbell.

"Hey" Jen says cheerfully before inviting me inside to the living room.

"This isn't a friendly visit and you know it so don't act as if we're friends" I state. "I want to know the truth Jen, I don't know how you expect me to believe you that I've got a daughter. You can't just turn up at my house and say that and expect me to believe it."

"You seemed to believe it yesterday, what changed…actually don't tell me because I already know" Jen says smugly. "Your little wife Bethany has put words in your mouth and now you think Emma isn't your daughter even though you seemed to believe it yesterday."

"My emotions were all over the place yesterday because of the shock of everything but I'm not that stupid Jen. There's basically a fifty-fifty chance of that girl being my daughter. The timing seems like it's appropriate for me to have a daughter but at the same time I never could predict what you got up to especially with Stephen" I say.

"I swear on my daughter's life that Stephen and I never cheated on you. We were only friends and we lost contact for a while before getting together" Jen states. "Also you know Stephen can't have children so it's not even possible for him to be a dad."

"I never thought the child was Stephen's but I do still have reservations about the child even being mine" I admit.

"Why would I lie about something like this, I don't want or need you in my life Santana so why would I be back here claiming you had a child if you didn't?" Jen asks. I know Jen has been a bitch in the past but I don't think she'd ever do something this cruel. Also if she really wanted my money then she'd have come after me in the divorce but honestly she probably gets paid ten times more than I do. I'm just so conflicted over everything.

"Emma is your daughter Santana" Jen states.

"I can't just take your word for it Jen, I need proof" I say seriously.

"Why won't you just believe me?" Jen asks.

"You can't expect me to just believe you like that. This is a big deal Jen so I need proof before I can ever get close to that little girl" I say.

"Look it's going to be hard to prove because she has my surname but she is your daughter" Jen states.

"It doesn't matter what name she has, I need actual proof Jen. I don't just want a copy of a passport because that doesn't prove anything apart from her name and how old she is" I state.

"What other kind of proof then?" Jen asks.

"I want a DNA test" I state seriously.

"You have got to be kidding me, she's four years old and you want me to start getting tests done on her for no reason" Jen says surprised.

"It's hardly lots of tests, I just need to know if my DNA matches her. It'd be as simple as a saliva sample, it's not as if I'm asking for her to get a blood test and for her to be in pain" I reply.

"My daughter is not going through something like that, you need to just grow a pair and admit you have a daughter" Jen says shaking her head. "I knew you wouldn't totally cooperate with me but this is absurd."

"Is it really that shocking after everything you put me through in our marriage?" I ask.

"We're not doing a DNA test, end of discussion" Jen says with finality.

"Ok well if she really is my daughter then you have yourself to blame about her never seeing me because unless I have proof then I don't want any part in this mess. Yes I feel bad for the child but what you're doing is worse so if you don't do this then that little girl will never see me" I state.

"You can't be serious" Jen states in surprise.

"I'm deadly serious" I state. "It might seem cold hearted but there is no way I am getting attached to someone that isn't my daughter so this is all on you. If she is my daughter and you don't do the test then you're the one to blame. I mean you hid her from me for four years anyway so either way you look at it it's all your fault" I say while standing up.

"Santana, just wait a second please" Jen says while also standing up.

"No, I need to go home to my wife and my unborn son. They are my family right now and if you have any sense you'll do the test and tell me if I have a daughter as well" I say while walking to the door. Before Jen can say anything else, I promptly leave the house and head to my car. I quickly text Brittany before driving off.

XXX

"Hey, is everything ok?" Brittany asks tentatively as I walk into the kitchen where she is cooking dinner.

"Not really" I say, tears threatening to fall. "I demanded that Jen do a DNA test but she won't do it and now that child could be my daughter and I'm never going to know her or the truth."

"Oh honey come here" Brittany says hugging me.

"I told her I didn't want any part in this if she doesn't do the test" I say. "I don't want to get attached and then get hurt if she isn't my daughter."

"That's understandable babe, no one would blame you" Brittany says.

"But what if she is my daughter and she thinks I don't want her?" I say worriedly.

"This is all Jen's fault and that little girl is going to know that when she finds out that Jen refused. Also doesn't it just prove Jen is lying if she doesn't agreed to the test?" Brittany asks.

"It could but she might genuinely be worried about Emma" I say.

"Perhaps you just give her some time to think it over and she might finally agree to the test when she knows you're not going to just give in" Brittany suggests.

"I really hope so because I can't bear the thought of Emma thinking I don't want to know her if she really is my daughter" I say.

"I know but this is going to be ok, I'll make sure of it" Brittany says hugging me tighter.

"I appreciate the effort you went to making dinner but I think I'm going to give it a miss right now, I'm just going to have a lie down" I say.

"Ok" Brittany says kissing the top of my head before I go upstairs to lie down.

I must have fallen asleep reasonably quickly after I lay down because the next thing I know I'm awakening from what feels like a deep sleep and Brittany has just lay down in front of me and pulled my arm around her so the palm of my hand if lying flat on her stomach. It's a simple move but a really comforting one at that.

"Your son is kicking me something terrible so I figured the only way to settle him was to see his mommy" Brittany says.

"I'm sure if I sing to him then he might just calm down" I smile before we shift our positions so I can get a better angle towards Brittany's stomach.

"I think he'd like that but I also think he'd like his mommy to keep healthy so perhaps you could eat some food" Brittany smiles back. "I kept the plate of food warm in the oven for you because I thought you'd want something to eat eventually."

"Thanks baby" I smile at her again.

"I understand you sometimes want some alone time to process things but I am here if you want to talk. I'll try and not let my hatred for Jen get in the way" Brittany replies.

"Thanks Britt, I don't know what I'd do without you" I tell her genuinely.

* * *

Brittany's POV

Tuesday 8th October 2019

I promised Santana that everything would be ok and that I'd sort things so that's what I'm going to do. We've got a study day at uni so I don't need to go in for any classes so I figured I'd take this opportunity while Santana is at work to talk to Jen. I've got plenty of time to study and I don't start work until later so it won't do any harm to talk to her just now.

As soon as Jen opens the door after I've knocked on it and she realises it's me on the other end, she quickly closes it in my face.

"That's real mature Jen" I sigh while banging on the door again.

"You have no right to be here so go away" Jen says through the closed door.

"I have every right to be here when you're upsetting my wife" I state. "Look just open the damn door so I can talk to you please."

"I have nothing to say to you Bethany so go away otherwise I'll call the police" she states.

"You call the police then and I'll tell them all about your harassment of my wife this past weekend" I state.

"I wasn't harassing Santana, I simply went to her house to tell her the truth but now you're causing a scene and becoming aggressive" Jen replies.

"I hardly think I'm being aggressive, I'm pregnant you idiot so I'm not going to touch you" I say shaking my head in disbelief. "Look just let me inside so we can have a mature discussion please."

"I told you, I've got nothing to say to you" Jen says getting frustrated.

"If this little girl really is Santana's daughter then that means she's a part of my life too so I need to know what's going on especially when it's upsetting Santana. How would Stephen like it if Santana turned up here and said things to you, I mean he's going to want to protect you isn't he?" I say.

"Obviously he would protect me but it's not like I'm lying to Santana so I don't know why you're acting like it's a bigger issue then it is" Jen says.

"Look I don't need to come inside, just at least open the door so we can talk" I say.

"Fine" Jen huffs and a second later the door opens.

"You can't just turn up and expect Santana to believe you after all this time so just get proof please" I sigh.

"Why would I lie about this, I have nothing to gain having Santana in my life again?" Jen says.

"Santana is giving you the benefit of the doubt because there's a kid involved and she loves kids. She doesn't want to believe anyone would be that cruel to use a child that way" I say. "But I can see through you so you better get a DNA test of the child."

"This is between Santana and me, it's not your business" Jen states.

"It is my business considering I am married to Santana and we're about to have a son. I need to know if my son has a sister or not" I reply. This woman really doesn't listen does she?

"I'm not doing the DNA test, she's only four years old" Jen states.

"Then you're lying then, if you weren't lying then you'd just let the test go ahead because you know you're telling the truth and have nothing to hide" I say. "And furthermore it's not going to hurt her."

"Is this the only way that Santana will see Emma?" she asks.

"It's the only way" I nod.

"Fine, I'll do it" Jen sighs.

"I'll leave you in peace now and no doubt Santana will contact you about it" I say while turning around to leave. "Oh and another thing, if you ever hurt my wife again then you can say goodbye to ever walking again because I'll break your legs and make sure you can never use them."

"Threaten me all you want but there's no way your fat ass could catch me" she says before slamming the door behind me.

XXX

"Hey, how was your day?" Santana asks as I get into bed next to her and she wraps her arms around me.

"It was ok but promise me you won't get mad if I say something" I say hesitantly.

"Ok, I won't" Santana shrugs.

"I went to see Jen today before work" I reply.

"You talked to Jen" Santana asks while sitting up in bed.

"You promised you wouldn't get mad" I say.

"I'm not mad babe, just curious" Santana smiles. "What was it that you went to talk to her about?" she asks.

"I thought I might be able to persuade her to do the DNA test and I think she might do it now. I told her that you'd be in touch" I reply.

"Do you really think she will go through with it?" Santana asks hopefully.

"Yeah I think she will now" I nod.

"Thank goodness for that" Santana says breathing a sigh of relief.

"You know I love you more than anything right?" I ask.

"Of course" Santana smiles.

"Good because I want you to know that no matter what happens I'm going to support you. If she's your daughter then I'll do whatever it takes to help you build a relationship with her and if she isn't then I'll kick the crap out of Jen" I say.

"Thank you" Santana smiles again. "Although don't actually kick the crap out of her because you are pregnant remember."

"Ok, I won't" I say laughing.

* * *

That's it for chapter 15, let me know what you think. The truth will finally be revealed in the next chapter.


	16. The Results

To the guest reviewer who said about the Jentana story, I knew it was sarcastic and I don't mind because I know not everyone is going to agree with how I write things. It certainly doesn't bother me, I'd rather know people's opinions because as I've said before I can only see one perspective since I'm only one person so it helps to know the different views people have.

* * *

Chapter 16: The Results

Santana's POV

Friday 11th October 2019

Once Brittany told me that Jen agreed for Emma to take the test then I ordered one straight away. I've only just got the kit sent to me today after finding it in my mailbox when I arrived home from work so I'm going over to Jen's place now to see if we can do it as soon as possible. I managed to order an express kit which means we should get the results within 3 days of sending the samples away so ideally if I get them sent today then they should be available by Monday or Tuesday.

"Santana…what are you doing here?" Stephen asks surprised. This is the first time I have seen him in four years but it really doesn't look like he has changed at all.

"I received the DNA test kit I sent away for and I thought we could get it over and done with as soon as possible so is Jen here?" I ask.

"Yeah she's in the kitchen, let me just go and get her. You can wait in the living room if you want" he replies.

"Ok thank you" I say while going to the living room while Stephen goes to the kitchen. Moments later they both come through to the living room.

"Stephen says you have the DNA kit" Jen states and I nod. "Ok well if you want to leave it with me then I'll do the swab and then I'll bring the envelope to you" she says.

"No I don't think so" I say laughing. "You can give me it as soon as you've done it right now and then I'll take it away and do my bit before sending it off" I tell her.

"I thought you didn't want any contact with Emma before we get the results" she replies. "Emma is upstairs right now so I would need to bring her downstairs for me to get a sample."

"You're right I don't want any contact before the results but surely you can do it upstairs or something and then give me the sample and then I'll be on my way again" I say. "Stephen you'll make sure she does the swab right won't you, I don't want her contaminating the sample or something."

"Santana I'm hardly going to do that" Jen glares at me.

"Hey I wouldn't put it past you to trick me, you've did all sorts in the past so I wouldn't be surprised if you did something to tamper with the results hence the reason I am taking the sample away with me as soon as you've did it" I reply.

"You can't be serious" she states in disbelief.

"I am deadly serious so hurry up please" I sigh.

"Santana…"

"I'm not playing games Jen so just do the damn sample for me and I'll leave you in peace" I say.

"Fine" Jen sighs. "Stephen you better come with me otherwise she'll keep accusing me of messing with the results."

"I'm trusting you Stephen so don't let me down. I know she's your wife and everything but this is important so don't let her mess with the results" I say.

"Santana she isn't going to do that, honestly" Stephen says.

"You better hope she won't otherwise I'll be coming for you" I warm him.

XXX

"There we go, one cotton swab with my daughter's DNA on it" Jen says with handing me the wrapped up sample.

"This is the correct sample right, you haven't tried anything to affect the results?" I ask.

"For the last time Santana, I wouldn't do that" Jen sighs.

"Good, I'll be in touch then" I say while heading towards the door.

"That's all you're going to say, you're just going to walk out of here like nothing happened?" Jen asks.

"Nothing has happened yet, we don't know anything different until we get the results so there's no point in me being here any longer" I say.

"Well how do I know you won't tamper with the results either. Maybe you don't want to be Emma's mom at all so you're just putting on a big show to make it look like you're doing the right thing but technically Brittany will be doing the DNA test so you know for a fact the DNA results won't match" Jen states.

"I'm not as evil and twisted as you" I say shaking my head in disbelief. "If I have a daughter I want to know about it so under no circumstances am I going to cheat and make Brittany do it just so the results don't match."

"How do I know for sure?" Jen asks.

"Fine" I sigh while ripping the paper off of the cotton swab. As soon as I get it open, I quickly take a swab of the inside of my cheek before placing the swab in the container and sealing it. "There you go" I state.

"Ok" Jen nods in satisfaction.

"If you want you can watch me fill out the paper work and even follow me when I mail it" I state.

"That's not quite necessary" Jen says shaking her head.

"Ok, I will leave now then" I say annoyed before walking to the door again. "Like I say I'll be in touch" I say before leaving. As soon as I leave I go straight back home but when I arrive Brittany isn't home yet. I decide to just take a quick shower and change into something comfier since I don't want to sit in my work clothes all night. As soon as I'm finished in the shower in my en suite and I've just stepped out, I hear Brittany call to me through the door.

"Babe are you in the bathroom?" she asks while knocking on the door.

"Yeah I'll be out in a second, I just need to get dressed first" I tell her.

"Oh no need to get dressed on my account baby" she replies in a teasing tone. "You know I like it best when you're undressed."

"I know you do but I haven't eaten in ages so someone has to make the dinner and I just know you're not going to want to do it if I'm standing here naked. Also to be honest with you I don't really want to cook naked either in case I get burned" I say.

"Ok baby" Brittany replies. As soon as I'm dressed, I open the door and exit the bathroom. "Hi baby" she says while wrapping her arms around me before leaning in to kiss me.

"Hi" I smile as I too wrap my arms around her. "How was your day?" I ask.

"Oh you know, the usual boring lectures that would really put you to sleep. To be honest I learn a lot better at home by just sitting down and going through books and articles at my own pace" Brittany replies.

"That is one thing I don't miss about my time at uni. I mean don't get me wrong I need to do lots of research on a daily basis but that's my work so it interests me more than a lecturer giving a talk about something that doesn't exactly relate to what I need to learn about" I say.

"Well I can't wait until the summer and I can finally graduate and get a job relating to my degree" she says.

"I know and I'm excited for you because I know studying has been kicking your butt recently" I say.

"Yeah but anyway enough about me. How is my beautiful wife this evening?" Brittany asks as we break out of the hold.

"Yeah I'm good but I did get the DNA kit through the mail today so I've already been over to Jen's place with it and she got a sample from Emma and I've took a sample of my DNA too so all I need to do now is send it back" I say. "I felt too nervous about sending it away without talking to you first. It's such a big thing you know and once I send this away there is no turning back so I'm going to know for sure if I have a daughter or not."

"That's ok babe, if you need a little time to think first then its ok" Brittany says.

"I'm scared it's going to change us if Emma is my daughter" I say honestly.

"Babe come and sit down" Brittany says while leading me over to the bed. "I'm not going anywhere if she's your daughter. I'm still going to love you the same and I'll do whatever it takes to support you. I promise you that nothing is going to change."

"How do you know that for sure?" I ask worriedly.

"I know for sure because I'm so madly in love with you that I'll never let anything get in the way of that. I can't live without you Santana so I'll do anything to be with you so no matter what happens, I'm not going anywhere" she replies.

"Ok" I nod.

"I love you Santana and nothing will change that" Brittany says putting her arm around me.

"I love you too" I smile.

"I can come with if you want when you send it off" Brittany suggests.

"Thank you" I smile.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Tuesday 15th October 2019

When I returned home from work this evening, I noticed a large envelope in my mail box that said 'private and confidential' which could only mean one thing…it's the DNA results. Even though I desperately want to find out the truth, I want to wait for Brittany first but she isn't home yet. Luckily though, she isn't working tonight so once she gets home we're going to be able to find out the truth.

It's about another half an hour before Brittany gets home and as soon as she steps through the door I rush through to tell her about the package that came in the mail. We decided the best thing to do was to go over to Jen's place and we can all see the results together so as soon as we were ready, Brittany drove us over there. Once we get to the door, I ring the doorbell and we wait until someone answers.

"Santana, what are you doing here?" Stephen asks surprised to see me on his doorstep.

"Is Jen in because I've got the results of the DNA test and I figured we should see the results together" I say.

"Yeah she's upstairs reading to Emma but you can come in if you want" Stephen replies.

"Thank you" I say as we walk inside. "This is my wife Brittany by the way and Britt this is Jen's husband Stephen" I say introducing them.

"Hi" Stephen says shaking Brittany's hand. "I'll go and get Jen now" he says while leaving the room.

"Are you ok?" Brittany asks while taking my hand in hers.

"I don't know" I reply. I just can't explain how I feel right now, it's so confusing.

"Oh great, Bethany is here" Jen says rolling her eyes as she walks into the room.

"Of course I'm here you idiot, why wouldn't I be here supporting Santana?" Brittany states.

"Look the results are here Jen so let's just open them and find out the truth" I say.

"Fine" Jen sighs. As soon as I go to open the envelope, I just seem to freeze for some reason.

"Britt…I can't do it" I say looking at her.

"It's ok" she says placing a comforting hand on my back. "Do you want me to do it?" she offers.

"No way are you opening that letter, you'll probably read out a result that suits you and not the actual result" Jen states.

"Don't be stupid, I can hardly make something up when it's right there on the paper in black and white" Brittany replies. "Look I don't particularly like you, in fact I can't stand you but we all want the truth right now and no matter what happens I'll support Santana."

"Can you please just read it Britt because I can't take this feeling anymore" I say desperately.

"Of course babe" she smiles while opening the envelope much to Jen's annoyance. There is a short silence for a moment as she reads over the document.

"What does it say?" I ask desperately again.

"Honey…" Brittany says taking my hand. "She's not your daughter."

"She's not?" I ask for clarification as tears threaten to fall.

"No, I'm sorry" Brittany says wrapping her arms around me.

"Let me see that" Jen says snatching the paper out of Brittany's hand. "You're lying!"

"Can't you see Santana's upset, this isn't something I'm going to joke about" Brittany snaps at Jen.

"Emma is your daughter Santana, honestly" Jen says frantically.

"The DNA results prove she's not so just stop with the lies Jen, it's not funny anymore. You are ruining people's lives" Brittany says. "The timing and when she was born did mean Emma could have been Santana's daughter but she's not so you were clearly messing around with someone else at the time."

"Santana I promise you, I really thought she was your daughter. You have to believe me" Jen pleads.

"I do believe you" I say shaking my head. I can't believe I am actually saying this but I do believe she thought the child was mine. "But you really should have been more careful with what you do to people because not only have you hurt me but you've hurt your own daughter."

"Who is the other parent of Emma then?" Brittany asks.

"That's none of your business" Jen snaps.

"Maybe not but Santana deserves an explanation so you better tell her just now before I hit you across the face" Brittany says seriously.

"Look, when things between us started going wrong Santana, I needed someone to confide in so I was going to go and see Stephen but then I figured he had his own problems with his wife so I changed my mind and went to a bar instead and got really drunk" Jen says. "Then I made one drunken mistake with someone I met there who I already knew and before I knew it, we kept meeting up and we really had a connection so I fell in love with him."

"Let me get this right, you cheated on me several times?" I ask.

"No, it was just once but we did meet up and we'd talk so then I realised I had to end it with you so I did before anything else happened" Jen says but I can't help but laugh.

"Ok I was the one who ended it with you so let's not make up a story to make ourselves feel better" I say laughing.

"Does it really matter who ended it with who, it's in the past and you've both moved on" Stephen says.

"I agree" Brittany says.

"So who was he then?" I ask.

"David, the brother of your friend Sarah" Jen finally replies. "I knew him through you and Sarah being friends and like I say we met at the bar and then we hooked up but I swear nothing else happened until you and I broke up so I was so sure Emma would have been yours since David and I only slept together once."

"Oh my god!" I gasp. I completely forgot about the lunch Sarah and I had a few years ago where she told me Jen was engaged to David. I guess it really didn't work out in the end though because she's obviously with Stephen now. "Why did I never remember that, I should have known Emma would be his daughter?"

"Wait, you knew about David and me?" Jen asks.

"Yeah, I have lunch with Sarah every now and again and she told me when you two got engaged but ever since then we never spoke about it again so I completely forgot about that. It must have been two or three years ago I found out and I didn't really care about what you got up to so it went in one ear and out the other" I say.

"Well we actually broke up a month or so after we got engaged and then Stephen and I got back in contact and have been together ever since" Jen explains.

"That's precious but I don't really care about your life anymore. As far as I'm concerned there is no reason for me to ever speak to you again so Brittany and I are just going to leave now" I say. "Come on babe" I say and Brittany follows me to the door.

"Oh before I go, I must tell you that my promise still stands. If you ever hurt my wife again then I'll hurt you, trust me" Brittany says angrily.

"Bring it blondie" Jen laughs.

"Actually you know what Jen, you are looking a little rounder these days. Have you been binging on the carbs again?" I say. I know it's immature but the look on her face was priceless.

"Come on, let's go" Brittany says laughing and then we leave. "Hey, are you ok?" she asks as we get into the car.

"Not really but I will be eventually I think" I say. "A part of me is a little sad because there was a slight chance I could have had a daughter but also another part of me is relieved because now you and I can go back to normal and prepare for our son to arrive."

"I know I said before I wanted us to share the experience of becoming parents for the first time together but I want you to know that I'm not happy about us being able to do that now because I know you're hurting. I would have been ok with us not sharing that if she was your daughter" Brittany says truthfully.

"I know that babe, you don't need to worry" I say.

"If there's anything you need me to do then I'll do it. I mean if you want to be left alone and want some space then I can do that. Just say what you want and I'll do it" Brittany says.

"What I really want is to just go home and be alone with you" I smile. "I also think we should discuss baby names too."

"We've got ages yet, do we not?" Brittany says.

"You might think so but the next few weeks are going to fly in, honestly they will" I say.

"Let's hope they don't though because I've got a lot of coursework to do plus the baby isn't going to be here until after Christmas anyway and that's ages away" Brittany says.

"Ok, whatever you say but don't come crying to me when we're having to rush around at the last minute" I smile.

"I won't" she smiles back but I can see it now. I can just imagine her getting all panicked and I'm going to be delighted when I remind her that I did try and get organised beforehand. "Anyway onto more pressing issues, what are we eating for dinner tonight because I didn't prepare anything?"

"Neither did I so we might as well just have a salad or something" I suggest.

"No I think your son would like us to swing by and pick up a burger" Brittany replies.

"No I think that's just you, my son wants to be healthy so I think he's voting for a salad which of course we're going to have because he's going to get everything he wants from me" I smirk.

"I knew you would spoil him and I'm going to be the one looking like the bad guy when I need to tell him that he can't always get what he wants" Brittany groans but I know she isn't really that bothered by it.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Sunday 1st December 2019

Brittany and I are just having a quiet Sunday morning eating a late breakfast while relaxing in the kitchen. We spent all of yesterday buying the rest of the things we figured the baby would need once it arrives so we're pretty tired from yesterday. Brittany had me moving furniture all day because she couldn't decide how the layout of the nursery should look and even though I am strong enough, I'm not exactly build like someone who moves furniture all day so I need to relax my body today. I mean of course she offered to help me move things but I'm hardly going to let her when she's pregnant.

"Do you think our sex life is boring?" Brittany asks looking up from her magazine.

"Um…why do you ask?" I ask confused at the random question.

"Well I was reading an article here and it's talking about how sex seems to become boring once you're married regardless of how young you are. I mean I'm only twenty-one so I really hope that's not the case for us" she replies. "There's apparently lots of different ways in here that can help change things up a bit in the bedroom."

"Oh right" I nod following what she means.

"So do you think it's boring?" she asks.

"I wouldn't say boring but I guess it can be sort of predictable at times" I reply honestly.

"Oh I'm sorry for being the size of a whale these days and can only have sex in certain positions" Brittany says offended.

"Baby you asked me the question and I replied honestly. It's not a bad thing though, it's nice knowing what'll happen" I say.

"Nice!" she shrieks. "Sex is nice?"

"Yeah of course it is" I smile not seeing the issue with it.

"Dessert is nice but it doesn't mean I want to eat it every night and get fat" she states. "I would have really hoped sex was more than just 'nice'" she says air quoting it.

"Britt I didn't mean to offend you" I say honestly. "I'm just tired and I can't think properly today so my head isn't prepared for a long and thoughtful conversation so my vocabulary is limited. I didn't mean nice as in just ok, I meant as in good and exciting."

"Do you still think its predicable though?" she asks.

"Yeah it can be but like I say, that's ok. I don't mind it like that" I reply. "Britt you are pregnant so I don't expect us to be doing all kinds of things so don't worry" I say trying to reassure her.

"Why have you never said anything before about thinking that our sex life is boring?" Brittany asks.

"Honey it's not boring" I reply. "I said it was a little predictable but that's not a big deal. I'm content with how things are between us, aren't you?" I ask.

"I thought I was until I read this article and now you've got me worried as well" she says. "I don't want it to be predictable, I want it to be exciting and fun. I don't want it to feel like a chore or something."

"Trust me, it's certainly not a chore to have sex with you" I say while walking over to her where I lean down and kiss her.

"It says in this article that most couples should have sex at least…"

"Baby put the magazine down, we are not comparing ourselves or our relationship to these fictional people. There's no way any of this is actually real so I wouldn't let it bother you" I say while lightly placing a kiss on her neck. "There's a saying - 'if it isn't broke, don't fix it' so I suggest we do just that" I tell her.

"What if we think this is normal when it actually isn't? We could be missing out on a lot Santana if we go on as we are when there could be better ways to excite things in the bedroom" Brittany says.

"Honey please stop stressing. Our sex life is quite alright thank you very much so forget what anyone else says unless you aren't happy with how things are then we can discuss things more" I say trying to relax her.

"I am happy but I can't say I liked the fact you said it was predictable because it makes me think you want something better. I mean what if when the baby comes then things get worse and we barely ever have sex?" she says.

"You're just overthinking things babe because the pregnancy is getting to you" I say.

"You will tell me then if you're unhappy about it, right?" she asks.

"Of course, now come here" I say while placing my hand on her cheek and turning her head gently so I can kiss her. "You know, I do have some time right now and I'm not actually that sore from yesterday so I wouldn't be opposed to going upstairs if you wanted" I smirk.

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Friday 6th December 2019

I usually finish early on a Friday but me being the kind of workaholic I am decided to stay later tonight to finish off a few things and now its 6pm and I am exhausted. I had thought of taking Brittany to dinner tonight but she said she didn't mind staying in since I was working later and I'd be tired so I'm hoping she's still ok with that. After putting the last minute touches to a few files, I decided to call it a night and go home.

The minute I walk through the door at home, I'm greeted by gentle music playing and the hall is fully lit with scented candles. There's an envelope sitting on top of the bowl on the side table where I usually put my keys and it's simply addressed as ' _Santana'._ When I open it, there's a card inside which reads ' _go to the living room'_ so I quickly make my way there where I find a bouquet of red roses sitting on the table with a card stuck in the middle with the words _'I love you, I'll be upstairs waiting for you, Britt x'_ so of course I quickly make my way up the stairs which I have just noticed have rose petals scattered across them.

"Britt…" I call out.

"I'm in the bedroom" she replies so I walk into our bedroom and to my surprise Brittany is laying on top of the bed in some seriously sexy lingerie.

"What is all this?" I ask in surprise.

"You and I are going to have a romantic night because I feel we deserve it and it's been a while since I did something like this for you" she smiles.

"Well I am definitely not complaining" I smile back. "You look so sexy by the way" I point out.

"Thanks. Who knew your favourite lingerie store actually had a maternity section" she says while getting up from the bed and making her way over to me where she kisses me.

"That article from last week wouldn't have anything to do with this, does it?" I ask.

"Kind of but kind of not. I mean you were right that it's probably not written about the realistic couple when it started to detail everything that's impossible for a couple who work fulltime but it did get me thinking that we never have enough romantic nights and how long it had been since I made a proper effort" Brittany replies.

"I appreciate you doing all this but honestly you don't have to be concerned about our relationship because I'm not" I smile.

"I know but I like doing this for you. I mean obviously we can't change the actual sex part right now since there are only certain positions I can lie in with the pregnancy but I figured I could try and make everything else special and romantic to make it more exciting" she replies.

"Baby you didn't have to do all this" I say while looking around the room at all the candles that are lit. "But I must say I am looking forward to what's to come" I smile.

"Me too but I thought we could start off with a little massage and then see what happens" she smiles.

"I'm good with that" I smile back.

"Why don't you get undressed and lay on the table while I get some massage oil from the bathroom" Brittany suggests.

"Ok babe" I smile while promptly getting undressed.

XXX

"How are you feeling now, are you more relaxed?" Brittany asks as she finishes up my massage.

"Yeah I definitely feel more relaxed now, you're really good at massages babe" I say while turning over and wrapping the towel around me as I sit up on the bed. "I'm also not too bad either if you wanted me to give you one. I mean it would be a shame for me to be sitting here in nothing but a towel all relaxed while you're sitting there all wrapped up in clothes." During the massage Brittany started to get a bit cold so she threw on some clothes over her lingerie for the time being.

"As much as I would love a massage from you right now, I actually have another surprise for you" she tells me.

"Does it involved you naked because I'd really like that right now?" I tease.

"Actually it does" she smiles while pulling out a large envelope from the drawer on the nightstand. "Look inside baby" she says while handing the envelope to me.

"Ok" I say slightly confused but looking inside none the less. I pull out what's inside and it turns out they're pictures of Brittany naked but in a tasteful manner where her more intimate parts are covered up but I know she is still actually naked.

"What do you think, the photographer seemed to capture the different scenes quite well?" she asks.

"Someone else saw you naked?" I ask.

"That's what you're taking from that?" Brittany laughs. "I give you naked pictures of myself and that's the first thing you say?"

"No they are beautiful baby but by the looks of things someone else has seen you naked and I'm not sure if I'm ok with that" I say honestly. I mean I'm not mad; I'm just slightly uncomfortable with it.

"Its ok babe, I'm not completely naked in every picture and it was only Quinn that would have seen" she replies.

"Quinn, my best friend Quinn?" I ask confused. "Since when were you two that friendly?" I ask.

"It's a long story but we both wanted to do something like this so Quinn would make sure I was decent before the photographer did each picture and then I would make sure she was ok. Even at that though, Quinn would barely see a thing because the photographer left in between each shot until I was ready and then I'd let him know it was ok to take another picture" she replies.

"Ok so I get why you'd want to do this because it'd be for me but why would Quinn?" I say. "Oh my god, my brother…yuck. Babe quickly say something else so I can get the image of this out of my head."

"Honey…" she laughs.

"I'm serious Britt, I don't want that kind of image swimming around in my head right now" I say seriously. Brittany doesn't verbally respond though, instead she sits down next to me and leans in and kisses me passionately.

"Is that better?" she asks.

"Not yet, keep going" I reply.

"Ok" she laughs while kissing me again. Strangely enough it does actually do the trick after a while because all I want right now is Brittany so I gently slide my hands down to her hips where I grab the edge of her shirt and pull it over her head.

"Is your back ok?" I ask pulling away slightly to make sure she's ok just now because her back has been bothering her a bit recently.

"Honestly I'm perfect babe, don't worry" she smiles before I lean back in and capture her lips in another passionate kiss. "Just let me get these pants off before I lie down" she adds.

"Ok but let me do it" I say while gently gripping the waistband of her pants and swiftly pulling then down to her ankles along with her panties where I remove them both and discard them to the pile of my clothes from earlier. I help her get into a comfortable position on the bed before leaning down and kissing her once again. As the kiss heats up, I carefully hover over her but make sure I don't put any pressure on the baby whatsoever and begin gently kissing her neck and along her collarbone. As I reach her breasts I kiss the top of them gently before undoing her bra and tossing it to the floor.

"I can feel you hard against my core already" she smirks while running her hands up and down my back before untying the towel I had around me. "I'm so ready for you too if you want to skip the foreplay" she smiles.

"No I think I want to tease you a little first" I reply with a mischievous grin.

"Are you sure about that?" she asks while pulling my head closer to her and kissing my lips passionately.

"Not really" I say while dragging a finger through her folds to double check she's ready before slowly inserting my member into her. I go slow and steady to begin with so I can build up an appropriate rhythm that isn't going to cause me to put any pressure on her stomach.

"Harder baby, I know you want to be careful but I need you to go harder" she moans.

"Ok babe" I smile while beginning to speed up a bit. As I thrust into her she leans forward to caress my breasts as best as she can from her position on the bed as well as the baby bump between us.

"Oh god babe, that's good…keep going" she says closing her eyes tightly together as she moans loudly.

"I really hope you're nearly there because I'm almost ready to explode" I say moaning just as loudly as she is at the feeling.

"Almost but not yet, just try and hold back until I'm there because I want us to come together" she says.

"Ok" I say doing my best to keep moving inside of her while trying to prevent my orgasm.

"A few more thrusts will do it babe" she says screaming in pleasure.

"Ok" I reply while beginning to move even faster now that I know it won't be long so I'm not going to harm the baby.

"OH GOD…YES!" she screams as her orgasm hits her.

"THAT FEELS SO GOOD!" I say just as loudly as my orgasm hits. It takes us a few minutes to finally come down from our orgasmic state and I just collapse next to Brittany on the bed.

"Not a bad way to kick off the weekend, huh?" Brittany smiles while turning to lie on her side to look at me.

"It certainly wasn't" I agree.

* * *

The truth has been revealed, let me know what you think. I'm surprised some people who read 'The Early Years' didn't guess who the father was...saying that though, I didn't actually mention his name so it maybe wasn't that clear.


	17. Testing

Sorry for the delay with this chapter, I'm hoping to update more regularly now though.

* * *

Chapter 17: Testing

Santana's POV

Saturday 4th January 2020

Quinn and I are currently running through the park together. Usually I go running by myself on Saturday mornings but for some reason Quinn wanted to join me today. She hasn't always been as into running as I have so I know there must be a reason she wanted to join me today because there's no way Quinn would voluntarily do exercise for no reason.

"So as much as I like to spend time with my best friend, would you care to tell me why you wanted to come running with me this morning?" I ask.

"I just thought it would be nice to hang out because we haven't done that recently" she replies. "We've been so busy with our own lives that we haven't had a chance to spend some quality best friend time together."

"Oh come on Q, I know you didn't want to come running with me today to just hang out" I say laughing not believing her.

"Honestly Santana" she states.

"Really?" I question.

"Ok well I did want to hang out with you but I do also need a tiny favour" Quinn replies.

"I knew it" I laugh. "Come on, what is it then?" I ask.

"Can you babysit on Monday night because Jason has a thing and my parents are busy?" Quinn asks.

"Can't you ask my parents?" I groan.

"I could but since he's your nephew then I thought you might want to look after him for a change. I didn't think looking after Harry for a few hours would be that big of a deal but forget I said anything" Quinn says annoyed.

"Sorry I didn't mean it to sound like I don't like looking after him because I do" I say honestly.

"Then why did you groan when I asked?" she asks.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean too, I was just looking forward to a quiet few days with Brittany. She's obviously on maternity leave from work at the moment so we were hoping to just relax and prepare for the baby coming in the next few weeks" I reply. "Honestly though Q we'd be more than happy to look after Harry for a few hours."

"Are you honestly sure because I can ask your parents?" she asks.

"Yes it's fine" I smile.

"Ok thank you" Quinn smiles back. "Speaking of babies, how are the preparations for the baby, are you ready for everything?" she asks.

"They're coming along nicely I think, we're basically just waiting for the baby to come along now" I reply.

"Good" Quinn nods. "What about you though, how are you feeling about all of this?" she asks.

"Well I feel like I've waited my whole life for this. It's like I turn thirty in a few days and I really think everything is going to fall into place now. When I was younger I always imagined having children before now but it doesn't really bother me that much anymore that I'll be 30 before it happens" I say honestly. I had envisioned I'd have at least two children before I reached thirty but there's nothing wrong with having children after thirty because lots of people do it nowadays.

"What about Brittany, how is she feeling at the moment?" Quinn asks.

"Really good, she's excited about the baby" I smile.

"It must be a bit scary for her as well at the moment though, I mean she's almost twenty-two but not quite and she's still got another semester at college before she can graduate. Adding a baby to the mix is going to be stressful no matter how much you try and dress it up" Quinn says seriously.

"I know but I'm going to be there and it will be ok, not easy but definitely doable" I state.

"I hope you don't mind not sleeping because you're barely going to get any rest once the baby arrives, trust me a new-born is no picnic" Quinn says seriously.

"Way to go Quinn, make me feel worse why don't you" I say rolling my eyes at her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean too" she laughs. "Look you're going to be fine, don't worry" she says trying to reassure me but it really doesn't work.

"Let's just keep running" I say wanting to get back to our run.

XXX

As soon as our run ended, Quinn had to go straight home so instead of going for a coffee like I usually do, I decided to go straight home as well. As soon as I get inside the house, I quickly kick my footwear off and go to find where Brittany is. Once I walk into the kitchen, I see her sitting at the table eating breakfast.

"Hey did you miss me?" I ask while leaning down to kiss her.

"Of course" she smiles back.

"So what have you been up to this morning?" I ask as I take a seat next to her.

"I've just finished showering, man you should have seen how long it took me" Brittany says shaking her head. "I just hope this baby comes soon because this baby bump is getting in the way of everything and I am so slow at everything I do."

"I'm sure you're not that bad" I say trying to make her feel better.

"It took me almost five minutes just to get down the stairs because I couldn't see my feet in front of me from my giant stomach" she replies.

"Well at least we know he is growing properly then" I say trying to think of the positives.

"I guess" Brittany sighs. "Anyway enough about me, how was your run?"

"It was ok but you know what I'm like when someone doesn't go at my pace" I say. "Quinn just can't keep up sometimes and it gets really frustrating and let's not forget how much she kept talking. The more she talked the more we slowed down, I think I'll just need to go myself from now on."

"What if I want to go running with you though?" she smiles.

"I don't mind you coming with me because I like going running with you but I just don't want to go with Quinn again, no offence to her but she gets too annoying" I reply.

"Ok" Brittany nods.

"Actually speaking of Quinn, do we have any plans on Monday?" I ask remembering Quinn asked us to babysit.

"I've got someone coming to the house when you're at work to baby proof the house but that's about it" Brittany replies.

"Ok well Quinn asked if we could babysit Harry for a few hours that night, is that ok?" I ask.

"Yeah of course it's ok, I don't mind that" she smiles.

"Cool, I will text her later and let her know we're ok for babysitting" I say.

"OK" Brittany says before going back to eating her breakfast.

"Babe can I ask you a question?" I ask.

"Yeah" Brittany nods.

"You'd tell me right if you're getting nervous or worried about the baby coming wouldn't you?" I ask. "I mean I know you'll have uni and everything as well so you'll talk to me right?"

"Yes of course I'll talk to you" she replies. "I guess I'm a little nervous just like any new parent but it's nothing to worry about."

"Ok good because obviously neither one of us know what to expect but I'd hate you to feel under pressure or anything since you've decided to go straight back to your classes once the baby comes" I say. Once the baby comes I'll be taking a full two weeks off work to help but Brittany has decided to go straight back to college even though she's took maternity leave from work. Since she's only got this semester to finish before she graduates then she thought it would be easier to just do it rather than defer a year meaning she'd need to wait another year before she graduated.

"Babe I'll only be in classes a few days a week so it'll be ok and like you say you'll be here so we'll be fine" she replies.

"It's just Quinn got me thinking and I just wondered how you felt because obviously it's different for me because I'm not the one who is actually pregnant. You'll be able to relate with Quinn more than I will so I just wanted to check everything was ok" I say.

"Well it is but thank you for making sure" she says while leaning in to kiss me before a comfortable silence fills the air around us as Brittany finishes eating.

"Babe how about we play a little game once you've finished clearing up from breakfast" I suggest breaking the silence.

"A game, what kind of game?" Brittany questions confused.

"I've got these question cards from Quinn that she used before Harry was born and I thought we could test one another to see if we're ready for the baby or not" I reply.

"Ok well give me five minutes and then I'm all yours" she replies.

XXX

"How should you prepare the bath for the baby?" I ask reading one of the questions aloud to Brittany.

"Add cold water and then add some warm water into it. The water then has to be thoroughly mixed in to make sure there are no areas that are too hot" Brittany replies.

"Correct, ok next question" I say taking another card. "What temperature has the bath water to be when we bath the baby?" I ask.

"Around body temperature so 37 degrees Celsius and no hotter" she replies.

"Correct, wow you're on fire" I smile. "What should you do if you lift or hold the baby?"

"Make sure their head is supported and do it gently but smoothly making sure there aren't any quick movements in case they get nervous" Brittany replies.

"Excellent" I smile while taking another card and asking Brittany another question. After a few more questions, we swap around and Brittany asks me some questions to test my knowledge.

* * *

Brittany's POV

Tuesday 14 January 2020

"Santana, it's time" I say seriously while walking into the living room where Santana is.

"Oh my god…ok" Santana says quickly getting off her seat. "Right we need to grab your bag and then I need to get my car keys and we can go" she says running upstairs.

"What are you doing?" I shout up the stairs.

"Getting your bag Britt, I won't be a second" she says while banging around, obviously she is frantically looking for my overnight bag.

"Santana it's in the hall here" I state.

"Oh" she says running back downstairs but somehow her shoe gets caught on the last stair and she falls flat on her face at my feet.

"Honey are you ok?" I ask concerned while trying to bend down to help her.

"I'm fine…let's go" she says shaking herself off before picking up the bag and her keys. "Um…are you coming?" she asks noticing me not moving.

"I'm sorry baby, I was just testing you" I reply.

"So the baby isn't coming?" Santana asks while rubbing her leg, presumably from hurting it when she fell.

"No, I'm sorry" I say feeling bad for tricking her. "I just wanted to make sure you'd be prepared for when the baby does come but I didn't mean for you to get hurt."

"It's ok" she sighs.

"Does it hurt really badly?" I ask.

"It's not excruciating but it isn't a pleasant feeling either" she replies.

"Come and sit down then" I say helping her into the living room to take a seat on the sofa. "Do you think you need an icepack or anything for it?" I ask.

"No I think it's just bruised or something" Santana says rolling up her pants at the leg to examine the injury.

"Is there anything I can do?" I ask.

"No I should be ok, don't worry about it" she smiles.

"I feel bad though because it was my fault. I didn't mean to trick you but I wanted to know that you'd be prepared if I did suddenly go into labour" I say honestly. "I never meant for you to get hurt in the process."

"Yeah I know, it'll be fine honestly" she smiles again.

"Ok if you're sure" I tell her.

"I am Britt" she nods. "Just don't do that again unless you are serious because whenever the baby comes I will be ready" she tells me and I nod.

"Ok I promise" I say leaning in to kiss her.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Saturday 18th January 2020

I learned my lesson on Tuesday night not to trick Santana again because when she woke up on Wednesday morning she had a massive bruise across the front of her leg. I felt so bad for testing her like I did so now I know to just trust her when she says whenever the baby is ready, she'll be ready.

I'm just about to quickly use the bathroom before Santana and I go downstairs to make dinner when I feel something weird. As soon as I look down, I notice a pool of 'water' at my feet and quickly realise my water has just broke and I'm about to have the baby. Ok this cannot be happening, I'm not ready for this yet. Here was me tricking Santana the other night and now look, I'm not even ready.

"It's time" I say panicking while walking into the bedroom.

"Is it really baby or are you just trying to trick me because it isn't going to bother me anymore. I've got everything under control" she says calmly.

"I'm not fucking around Santana, seriously it is time" I say trying to breathe just like we were shown at the antenatal classes.

"I'm going to need some proof babe" she says while getting off of the bed.

"Fine" I sigh. "Go to the en suite and you can slide around on the floor where my water broke" I say annoyed.

"Ok" Santana nods before proceeding to the bathroom.

"I can't believe you don't believe me this time" I say shaking my head.

"I'm sorry" Santana says running out of the bathroom. "I believe you" she says while quickly putting her shoes on. As soon as she is ready, she helps me down the stairs and we make our way over to the front door to head to the car.

"Santana" I say and she turns around to look at me.

"Yeah?" she asks.

"You're going to be a mom" I smile.

"Oh my god, I'm going to be a mom" she says, her face quickly paling.

"No Santana you are not about to faint on me right now" I state seriously. I can see in her eyes, everything has suddenly just became real and she's now getting nervous and scared.

"I'm…I'm…a mom" she says shocked.

"Oh crap, well done Brittany" I say cursing myself aloud. If I hadn't of said that then Santana would have quickly got us to the car and drove to the hospital. "Honey we really need to go to the hospital now, I know I've freaked you out but our little boy can't wait anymore" I say.

"I'm…sorry" she says nervously while helping me out the front door before locking it behind us.

"Do you want me to drive?" I ask.

"No don't be silly, you can't drive" she shakes her head.

XXX

"Is there any way you can like close your legs so the baby doesn't come just yet because I'm really not ready Brittany. I'm not ready to be a mom yet, I need a little more time to gather myself together" she says honestly.

"AAAAHHHH!" I scream as a contraction hits.

"I assume that means no" she says nervously. "Um…are you ok?"

"Yeah, that one was just a short one" I say trying to get my breath back.

"Ok" she nods.

"Look the baby will just need to take us as we come Santana, this is the most ready we're going to be able to be" I tell her.

"What happens if he hates me because he's been inside of you for nine months so just wants you?" she asks.

"Honey that's not going to happen, he's going to instantly be connected to you because you're his mom and he knows that. All those songs you've sang to him and all the books you read to him during these nine months he's going to remember and he's going to remember it was you that did that" I say.

"He's been so comfortable inside of you though, what if he wants to stay like that?" she asks.

"Trust me, he doesn't want to be there much longer considering how much pain I'm in" I say. "Santana he only ever responds to your voice so that means he's instantly fallen in love with you already. It's me that should worry" I say trying to reassure her.

"You don't need to worry, you're going to be a fantastic mom" Santana replies.

"Well I think the same about you" I say while leaning over to squeeze her hand in reassurance just as another contraction hits me so I quickly pull away from her.

"How bad are your contractions?" Santana asks looking at me.

"Really bad so if there is any way we could speed up I'd be really grateful" I say beginning to get frustrated with these contractions.

"I'm going as fast as I can babe but I can't afford another speeding ticket" she replies.

"Santana you haven't had a speeding ticket in ages. You managed to flirt your way out of the last one so you got away with just a warning" I state.

"Oh yeah, so I did" Santana says laughing just remembering the time we got pulled over for speeding. "I don't even know how I did that because he didn't look the least bit interested in what I had to say at the beginning."

"Well I'm not surprised you got away with it because you can be pretty damn good at flirting and it does always do things to me" I tell her.

"Oh really?" she smiles in my direction.

"FYI it won't work right now so don't even try it, I'm just about to give birth" I state seriously.

"I thought it might take your mind off the pain if I started to flirt with you a little bit but never mind, you're not interested" she teases.

"Well if you think it'll help…actually do you know what will help?" I ask.

"What's that Britt?" she asks.

"If you sing to me, that always calms me down" I reply.

"Um…ok" she says surprised. "What do I sing for you?"

"Anything that you think is relevant to this moment" I reply.

"Ok, got it" she smiles before quickly thinking of a song to sing. Once she decides on one, she begins singing. I don't quite register which song she is singing until it comes to the chorus.

"Oh my god Santana" I state annoyed.

"What?" she asks obliviously.

"Push it by Salt-N-Pepa, really?" I question annoyed.

"You said anything relevant to this moment plus I thought it was pretty funny so I thought it would put a smile on your face" she replies. "Do you get it, you're in labour so eventually you're going to have to push?"

"Yes I get it Santana but it isn't calming me down, I wanted a nice gentle or slow song not something like that" I state.

"Ok well how about I sing something like…"

"Just forget about it, we're nearly at the hospital I think" I say while turning to look out of the window.

* * *

Let me know what you think. The baby will be here in the next chapter but I'm struggling with the perfect name for him so if anyone has any ideas then let me know.


	18. He's Here

Chapter 18: He's Here

Santana's POV

"You stay there a second and I'll help you out of the car, ok?" I say just as I pull into a parking space as close to the entrance of the hospital as I could get.

"Ok" Brittany nods while taking a deep breath trying to calm herself down from the last contraction she just had. I quickly get out of the car and run to the passenger side to help Brittany out.

"Just take it easy Britt" I say noticing how she is trying to get out of the car hurriedly.

"Take it easy?" she shrieks. "Are you kidding me Santana?" she glares at me.

"I just don't want you to fall out the car that's all" I state.

"If I slow down any further I'll be having the baby on the side of the road here. Would you like your son to be born outdoors because as I remember correctly he is a human being after all not some wild animal" she snaps at me.

"Brittany I'm just trying to help you now quit snapping at me because I'm not in the mood, I'm tired" I sigh.

"You're tired?" she questions annoyed. "Perhaps you'd like to go into labour and then you can really say you're tired."

"I don't want to fight with you Britt, our first child is going to be here soon so this is a happy occasion so let's not snap at one another" I say realising I may have been a little dramatic because Brittany is probably going to be feeling ten times worse than me.

"You're right, I'm sorry" she sighs.

"Yeah me too" I smile. For a second we forget where we are because we end up gazing into one another's eyes and just as I go to lean in and kiss Brittany, she stops me.

"Seriously though, your son isn't slowing down so he really will be born right here if we don't get moving" she states.

"Oh right, yeah" I say quickly snapping myself out of the daydream I was in. I quickly lock the car behind me as I help Brittany walk towards the entrance to the hospital.

"Shit Santana, I think I feel another contraction is coming on" Brittany says frustrated.

"It's ok, just hold onto me or these railings here for support" I reply.

"Why can't he wait until we get inside, this isn't fair" she says while trying to breathe properly through the contraction.

"Don't panic yet, we have time" I assure her. "As far as I can see your contractions aren't close enough together yet for the baby to be born right this second so we'll get you to a bed before he comes."

"Ok" she nods. We make our way over to the reception desk as quickly as we can.

"Hi there, we called from the car. My wife is in labour" I say motioning to Brittany.

"Brittany Lopez is it?" the receptionist asks.

"Yeah" Brittany replies.

"Ok well your doctor will be with you just shortly but the private room you requested that you're assigned to is right over there so you can just go straight in" the receptionist says.

"Thank you" I smile before helping Brittany over to her assigned room. "It's nice in here…well nice enough for it being a hospital" I say as I look around the room.

"I'm glad you like it babe but I'm hoping not to be in it for very long. I just want this baby to come sooner rather than later" Brittany sighs.

"I know you do" I say gently squeezing her hand.

It's less than five minutes before a few of the medical staff come in and check on Brittany. Unfortunately though she wasn't dilated enough and her contractions weren't close enough together yet to indicate the baby was fully ready to come out. They said we just have to wait it out just now and they'll check on Brittany every now and again but if we have any problems we've to let them know.

XXX

"There is no way for me to get comfortable, dammit why won't he come out already?" Brittany says frustrated while gently pacing around the room.

"Coming out isn't easy, I should know" I smile trying to lighten the mood.

"That's not funny Santana, I am in pain here so I'd rather you just helped me and not made light of the situation" Brittany sighs while glaring at me.

"I'm trying to help you babe" I say sincerely. "What else would you like me to do?" I ask.

"Tell me it's going to be ok" she says standing still while looking straight into my eyes.

"Of course it's going to be ok" I say walking over to her. "There's no reason it shouldn't all be ok" I say taking her hands in mine and squeezing them in reassurance.

"Ok" Brittany nods while taking a deep breath.

"You're doing so well already so just keep being awesome, ok?" I smile.

"I'll try" she says smiling slightly.

"Hey maybe you should try lying down again" I suggest.

"I just don't feel comfortable lying down though" she replies.

"Would it help if I gently massaged your back or something?" I ask.

"No you don't have to do that" Brittany shakes her head.

"Honey if it helps I'll do it" I say seriously. "Tell me what you want and I'll do it" I smile.

"The only thing I want right now is for this baby to come out but I suppose you can't help with that right now" Brittany sighs just as I hear my phone vibrate. I quickly check it and see a text from my parents.

"I've just got a text that my parents are here right now. Will you be ok if I quickly run out and say hello to them?" I ask.

"Yeah I'll be fine" Brittany nods.

"I promise I'll only be a second" I say before quickly kissing Brittany's head and leaving. I only talk to my parents for a matter of seconds just to let them know which room we're in and that I'll update them whenever the baby comes.

"Are my parents here yet or my sister?" Brittany asks trying to adjust her position on the bed as I walk back into the room.

"Not yet but my mom said they spoke to them but they're stuck in traffic, they'll be here soon" I reply.

"I wish my mom were here right now" Brittany sighs.

"Am I not good enough for you?" I tease.

"You are but neither of us have been in a situation like this before so we don't know what it's supposed to be like. My mom has four children so she should know what we're going through" she replies.

For the next while, we just wait around for the baby to come. The doctor checks on Brittany a few times but she still wasn't dilated enough yet so we were told just to wait it out really. I quickly started to get bored waiting so I decided I might make a short video of this moment before the baby comes but it's not working so well because Brittany doesn't want me to take any pictures of her.

"Santana what are you doing, get that phone out of my face right now" Brittany says pushing the phone away.

"Please babe, I just wanted to take a short video before the baby comes" I say still holding the phone in front of me.

"There is no way anyone else is getting to see me in such a state. I must look awful right now so I don't want anyone else to see me in labour" Brittany states.

"It's my first child, surely you'll let me take a small video of this moment. It's supposed to be one of the happiest days of a parent's life so let me document it please" I say.

"Fine, but don't focus in too close to me though" she says giving in.

"Thanks baby" I smile while quickly kissing her.

XXX

"Ok it looks like you're fully dilated, let's get this baby out of you" the doctor says as she checks over Brittany.

"Really, I'm ready now?" Brittany asks surprised but yet relieved.

"Yep you're ready" the doctor smiles again. They don't waste any time in getting Brittany prepared and she gets her pain medication. "Ok Brittany, you're going to need to push now but remember your breathing."

"I'm trying" Brittany says while screaming loudly in pain.

"Just breathe babe, I'm here for you" I tell her trying to get her to relax a little more.

"I'm trying Santana, trust me" she replies shooting me a glare.

"You can squeeze my hand if you think it'll help" I say while holding out my hand to Brittany.

"I doubt it will but I'll try" she replies through the pain while grabbing a hold of my hand and squeezing it. And trust me when I say squeezing it, I mean really squeezing it to the point where I think I'm losing all circulation and it's about to fall off.

"You are doing well Brittany but I do need you to keep pushing as hard as you can" the doctor says. "I can almost see the head I think."

"Wait, you can?" I ask while going to take a look.

"Santana, stay up here please" Brittany states while holding onto my hand so I don't go any further.

"Right, yeah…sorry" I apologise before moving towards the head of the bed a bit more.

"The head is definitely crowning so keep pushing Brittany, you're doing well" the doctor replies.

"This is too hard" Brittany says in tears.

"Nothing is happening Brittany, I need you to push even more for me, do you think you can do that?" the doctor asks.

"No" Brittany replies in tears while shaking her head.

"Of course you can do that babe, you're strong and I'm going to be here helping you through this the whole time" I tell her.

"I can't Santana, I really can't" she says as tears stream down her face.

"You can do this Brittany, I would never lie to you so you have to trust me when I say you can do this" I tell her.

"Fine" she sighs.

"You're doing so well already so let's just keep going" I say and Brittany nods.

"That's better, the baby is coming now just keep pushing as hard as you can" the doctor says.

"Santana you're drifting again, would you get up here please" Brittany says through clenched teeth while trying to keep pushing as hard as she can.

"Please, I just want to actually see him born" I state.

"No way Santana" Brittany replies firmly while shaking her head. "If you look down there, you'll never want to go anywhere near there again."

"I don't think I'm that weak babe, I'm sure I can handle it" I say waving her off.

"I'm serious Santana, don't look down there" she says annoyed.

"Ladies can you not have this discussion now, time is off the essence right now. The baby is going to get tired if we wait much longer so I really need you to push Brittany" the midwife says seriously.

"I'm sorry" I apologise before walking closer to Brittany's head. "Ok let's push Britt" I say gripping her hand firmly so she can squeeze it. After another good hard push, the baby comes.

"There we have it ladies, your little boy" the doctor says as we hear a loud cry fill the room.

"His lungs are certainly working" I joke.

"There is your little boy" the doctor smiles while gently raising our son the air to show him to us.

"He's beautiful" Brittany smiles.

"He really is" I agree while smiling just as brightly as Brittany. I lean down and gently kiss her forehead.

"Just like his mom" Brittany says looking up at me and smiling.

"Just like you, you mean" I say smiling back.

"Both of us then" Brittany replies.

"Would you like to cut the cord Santana?" the doctor asks while looking over to me.

"Can I?" I ask eager to do it.

"Of course" the doctor replies so I move towards the end of the bed. "You just have to cut it right there" she says positioning the instrument where I should cut the cord.

"Ok" I nod before quickly cutting the umbilical cord.

"We're just going to take him over to the side to clean him up a little and make sure everything is ok, there's nothing to worry about though" the doctor says while taking my son over to the side.

"Hey babe did you see that, I got to cut the cord?" I ask happily. It's such a simple task but that was my son and I got to be a part of his birth and it means so much to me. I'll never forget the feeling of becoming a parent for the first time.

"Yeah" Brittany replies quietly.

"Are you ok?" I smile while looking towards Brittany. As soon as I look at her, she looks so exhausted and her face looks so pale.

"I…I…" she tries to talk but she can't.

"Brittany…what's wrong?" I ask worriedly. The medical staff must have sensed the panic in my voice because the next thing I know is they take one look at her before rushing to crowd around her.

"We need assistance right now" I hear one of the medical staff say before pressing the button for assistance.

"Brittany!" I scream once I realise she has fallen unconscious. "What's going on, what's happening to her?" I ask distressed.

"She's haemorrhaging Santana, you need to step outside right now" the doctor replies.

"Like hell I'm going anywhere, that's my wife" I say angrily.

"You shouldn't be in here right now, we need room to move and do our job" the doctor says.

"I don't want to leave her alone, she's my wife" I say praying everything is going to be ok.

"Santana you have to leave, we need the space to tend to Brittany so please just step outside" someone else says. I don't quite know who they are but all I know is they came rushing into the room moments ago to help. "Plus it'll only upset you more to watch us right now."

"I'm not going" I state firmly.

"In that case we'll have to drag you out of here" a nurse states.

"Go ahead" I snap and before I get a chance to say anything else, the nurse does just that and drags me out of the room.

"Ok, easy" I say glaring at her.

"We'll keep you updated but just let us do our job please" she says before going back into the room. I just lean against the wall wondering what the hell has just happened. After a few minutes, my head begins to spin with lots of different thoughts. I don't know why it happened or what the outcome could be but all I know is that I need Brittany.

"You can't do this to me Brittany, it's not supposed to be like this. You mean the world to me and this is supposed to be one of the happiest days of our lives" I say sadly aloud to myself while placing my head in my hands as I slide down the wall into a crouching position.

"Santana what's going on?" my mom asks while rushing over to me. "One minute you're in the room and the next you're out here in tears sitting against a wall, what's happened?"

"I have no idea, Brittany is haemorrhaging or something and I don't know what is going to happen. I can't lose her mom, not today…not ever" I say panicking.

"It's going to be ok" my mom says leaning down and hugging me.

"I can't even see my son right now because he's in there and I'm not allowed in the room right now. What if something happens to him and I never got a chance to hold him or tell him I love him" I say.

"What did they say when he arrived?" my mom asks.

"Well he was crying and they said they just wanted to clean him up a little and check over him" I reply.

"He was crying, that's good" my mom says. "They check over all new babies so I'm sure he's ok. It doesn't sound like they were worried about anything and if they were they would tell you" she says.

"Are Brittany's parents here yet because they should know what's going on?" I ask.

"Yeah, when we didn't hear anything from you we assumed everything was going ok and you'd let us know so Karen and Emma have just went to the bathroom. They shouldn't be too long but James isn't here yet. He was away today somewhere else on work so he wasn't travelling with them so he's going to be a bit later arriving" my mom replies. Its a few minutes before we see Emma and Karen in the distance.

"Why aren't you with Brittany, is the baby ok?" Karen asks worriedly as she walks over to us with Emma following closely behind.

"The baby is fine, he arrived safe and well" my mom replies and Karen breathes a sigh of relief. "Brittany though…she started haemorrhaging so the doctors are with her right now."

"Oh my god" Karen says shocked. "I need to see my little girl right now, where is she?"

"She's in there but they sent Santana out" my mom replies.

"Well they'll be getting a piece of my fist if they don't let us see Brittany this instant" Emma states. "She needs her family around her so she knows we're all there for her."

"They had to physically drag me out Emma, they're not going to let us in. Don't you think I'd be in there with my wife if there was a way to be in that damn room?" I say annoyed.

"Bitch, don't snap at me. She's my sister, I have known her a lot longer than you" Emma states.

"I love her just as much as you do so don't take that tone with me" I say getting angrier.

"Girls please, this is not the time or place to be going against one another. We all love Brittany but fighting with one another right now won't make matters better now grow up" Karen says shaking her head at both of us. I don't get a chance to say anything in return because I hear the door open so I quickly snap my head around to see.

"What's happening with Brittany, is she ok?" I ask worriedly.

"The doctors are still tending to her but I'm going to take this little guy to the baby unit, do you want to come with me?" the midwife asks and it's then that I just notice she was pushing the carriage in which she is transporting the baby in.

"Yeah" I nod frantically. As much as I want to be there for Brittany right now, I know she'll want me to make sure our son is ok. "Can someone come and get me as soon as possible when you hear anything about Brittany?"

"Of course we will" Karen smiles.

"Thank you" I nod. "Um…mom, can you come with me please?" I ask nervously.

"Of course I can sweetheart, let me just tell your dad what's happening and then I'll meet you there ok?" she asks.

"Ok" I smile before following where my son is going.

XXX

"Mommy is a little sick right now but she'll get better so I just need you to help me, ok?" I say while gently placing my hand over my son's tiny hand. "There is no way I'll ever let her leave us so you don't have to worry" I whisper to him. "Now because mommy isn't in the room right now then we can't give you a name yet so I'm going to have to call you baby until she gets here, ok?"

"You can hold him if you want" the nurse says while smiling at me.

"I'd love to but I think my wife should get to hold our son first. She's went through nine months of pain and discomfort so she should get the first hold" I reply.

"I'm sure Brittany won't mind" my mom smiles.

"I know but I'm ok with just holding his hand just now and he looks ok with it too" I say.

"You're going to have to hold him at some point" my mom tells me.

"I know but like I say I want Brittany to have the first hold because that's what usually happens. You get to hold your baby as soon as they're born and Brittany never got that so the least I can do is let her have the first hold" I reply.

"Santana…"

"No mom, I know what you're going to say so just don't" I say shaking my head.

"Honey you don't know what I was going to say" she says calmly.

"You are going to tell me I might have to be the first one to hold him but I'm not ok with that mom, not ok whatsoever" I state. Holding my son first would make it seem like Brittany is never going to get to hold him and that's not going to happen. Brittany is going to recover really soon and she can have the first hold. I won't admit to Brittany not making it because I'll never let that happen.

"I wasn't going to say that honey" my mom replies.

"What were you going to say?" I ask.

"That it's important for the baby to develop an instant connection with their parents so perhaps you should just hold him first. I know it's important to you for Brittany to get to do it first but like I say, that bond between mother and baby is really important so maybe you should just hold him" she tells me. Before I even get a chance to respond, I hear the door open.

"Mrs Lopez…" the doctor says and I quickly flip my head round to give him my full attention.

"My wife is ok isn't she?" I say frantically hoping its good news.

* * *

That's it for chapter 18, let me know what you think. The baby's name will be revealed in the next chapter.


	19. Trio

To the guest reviewer and BK: I'm happy for any kind of feedback to the story but as I pointed out before, this is just the way I write. I'm not a particularly good writer so emotions don't always come off for the characters so it might seem like I'm constantly switching their moods all the time when I don't mean to. As for the previous chapter, Brittany was just all over the place because she didn't know how to handle being in labour since she's never experienced something like that before and as for Emma and Santana, they were taking their emotions out on one another because they were so worried about Brittany. I don't quite know what part you're talking about when you say Santana is angry with her mom but if it's the end then she wasn't necessarily angry, she was just worried. I will try and write better in future but honestly sometimes I don't even realise it's coming across a way I don't mean it to, it's just my lack of good writing.

* * *

Chapter 19: Trio

Santana's POV

"Mrs Lopez…" the doctor says and I quickly flip my head round to give him my full attention.

"My wife is ok isn't she?" I say frantically hoping its good news.

"She's in a stable condition now and we've managed to stop the bleeding" the doctor replies. "We did catch it early enough so she will make a full recovery but she just has to be careful at the moment and get lots of rest."

"Ok" I nod, relieved that Brittany is ok.

"I can explain what we did if you want but I'm guessing you're just eager to go and see Brittany now" the doctor says.

"Yeah if that's ok" I say. All I need to know right now is that Brittany is ok and I can go and see her. I can get a breakdown of everything else later once I know myself for sure Brittany's ok.

"Of course it's ok, you can go and see her right now" the doctor smiles.

"Thank you" I say standing up from the chair I was sitting in. "The baby will be ok here just now won't he until I see Brittany?" I ask.

"Of course he will, just come back whenever you're ready" the nurse smiles.

"Ok" I smile back before leaving with my mom. As soon as I get to Brittany's room, I notice her parents and siblings are standing outside the room. "Did the doctor talk to you all?" I ask as I approach Brittany's family.

"Yeah but we're just waiting on the rest of the staff to come out before we can go in" Karen replies.

"Ok" I nod. It only takes a few seconds before the other medical staff vacate the room.

"You can go in now" one of them say with a smile.

"Thanks" I reply.

"Maybe don't all crowd her at once though" the doctor says who followed my mom and me back to Brittany's room. "Just gradually get her used to you all being here because she might still be a little confused from the medication" she says.

"Oh…ok" I nod.

"Santana you can go in first if you want and just let us know when it's ok to come in" James says and I nod.

"Ok, thank you" I smile before opening the door of the room and going inside. "Oh my god Brittany" I say running into the room. As soon as I reach her, I lean down and kiss her passionately. As much as I'm so excited to see her, I'm also so relieved that everything is ok now.

"Ok…" she laughs nervously, a little taken aback at me lunging towards her.

"It's not funny, I think you underestimate just how much I love you and need you in my life Brittany" I say looking deep into her eyes. "If I had lost you, I'd never have forgiven myself. It would've been all my fault."

"Santana you did nothing to make that happen so don't ever think that, these things just happen sometimes" Brittany states.

"It felt like my fault" I sigh.

"Well it wasn't" she smiles.

"I promised you everything would be ok and it wasn't, it was like I tempted fate or something so it kind of feels like my fault in a way" I say honestly.

"This was just one of those unlucky things that can happen after childbirth. I think it's a very common thing to happen so it really isn't your fault so don't think that" Brittany says reassuring me. "On the other hand though, you said everything would be ok and it is because I'm ok now. When you said it was ok you wouldn't have predicted this would happen but you were still right because I am ok."

"I suppose" I nod. I guess Brittany is right because even though it was a horrible thing to happen, it worked out ok in the end because she's here with me now.

"Um… where is our son?" Brittany says while looking around the room. "I just noticed he isn't here and he's not with you either."

"He's with the rest of the other babies right now but he's doing ok so don't worry. I'm sure you'll get to see him soon" I reassure her. "Firstly though, there's tons of people outside that want to see you, can I let them come in?" I ask.

"Of course" Brittany smiles.

"I'll be right back babe" I say before exiting the room to tell everyone it's ok to come in. I barely get the words out of my mouth when Emma pushes past me and runs into the room. The rest of us all follow her in.

"Thanks for scaring me half to death Britt, I thought you were going to leave me alone as the only girl with our two annoying brothers" Emma says jokingly, relieved that Brittany is ok.

"Don't worry I could never do that to you" Brittany smiles at her sister.

"We're all so glad you're ok Brittany, you scared us all" Karen says while leaning down to hug Brittany.

"Everything is ok now isn't it, I couldn't really comprehend what the doctor was telling me when I woke up?" Brittany asks.

"Yes everything is fine now, there's nothing to worry about" I tell her. "I can talk to the doctor again later to find out why this happened and everything but for right now let's just concentrate on the fact you're ok and how we've just had a son" I say smiling.

"Ok" Brittany smiles. "Actually I want to go and see my son right now" she says trying to get out of the bed.

"Brittany you need to take it easy, just sit back down please. If you want to go and see the baby then I want you to go in a wheelchair" Brittany's mom says while helping her sit back down on the bed.

"You're a nurse mom, can't you just help me there?" Brittany asks.

"It's not just about someone being there to help honey, you really need to take things easy" Karen replies. "Plus it's only going to take a matter of seconds to get you a wheelchair so just be patient, ok?"

"Ok" Brittany nods and Karen leaves the room to get a wheelchair and to check with the doctor that Brittany is ok to go and see the baby.

"Wait until you see him again Britt, it'll melt your heart" I say excitedly at the thought of getting to see our son again. I have barely been away from him for that long and I miss him already. I just can't wait to see Brittany hold him for the first time or for me to even hold him the first time.

"I can't wait to see him" Brittany smiles just as her mom comes into the room with the wheelchair.

"There we go Brittany, let me help you onto the chair" Karen says while helping Brittany. Two seconds later, we all make our way to the baby unit to see the baby.

"As much as we want to see our grandson right now, we'll give you two sometime alone with him" Karen smiles. "Do come out and get us though whenever we can see him" she says.

"We will" I smile and everyone else waits outside the room but Brittany and me.

"Oh my god, look at him" Brittany says tearfully as I place the wheelchair next to the baby. "He's the cutest thing alive right now" she says smiling at him.

"Um excuse me, I am here too you know" I tease.

"Yeah sure you're cute but our son is even cuter" she smiles at me.

"Yeah I probably do agree with that" I say smiling down on the baby.

"Would either of you like to hold your son for the first time?" the nurse asks while smiling over at us.

"Wait, you haven't held him either?" Brittany asks while looking at me.

"No, I wanted you to be the first one to hold him" I smile.

"Oh" Brittany nods. "Thank you but you didn't need to do that" she smiles at me.

"I wanted to so go ahead" I tell her.

"Ok" she says excitedly. The nurse carefully places our son in Brittany's arms and Brittany immediately smiles fondly looking down at him. "I know I've probably said it before but he really is beautiful."

"I know, right" I smile.

"I think he has your cute little chubby cheeks" Brittany smiles while looking up at me.

"Ok first of all, I don't have chubby cheeks and second of all, I'd say the poor boy looks more like you" I smirk.

"If he looks exactly like me then he'll be a handsome boy" she smiles.

"Or a really feminine boy since he looks like a girl if he looks like you since you know, you are a girl" I tease.

"You know what I mean" she says while playfully glaring at me. "Seriously though, he does look like you."

"I've got to say, I actually think he looks like a mashup of both of us. He's certainly got your eyes, that's for sure" I say.

"Maybe for the moment but I think his eyes will darken soon enough" Brittany says looking at me.

"Well regardless, he's still beautiful" I say.

"I couldn't agree more" Brittany smiles looking down on our son again.

"We should really name him now though" I say.

"Yeah we should" Brittany agrees. "Out of the choices we narrowed down, which one do you think we should use?" she asks.

"I think any of them and whichever ones we don't use then we'll use for the next one" I reply.

"The next one, are you already thinking about more children?" she teases.

"Well it is inevitable that we'll have another child but I'm guessing we'll have our hands full for the moment so perhaps we should wait a little bit" I say.

"I agree" Brittany says.

"So what name are we going with then?" I ask to clarify.

"I've got to say, the minute I looked at him I felt like he was an Aiden but if you'd prefer another name then I'm ok with that too" Brittany replies.

"No, I like Aiden" I say smiling at Brittany.

"Ok, cool" Brittany smiles back. "We still haven't picked out a middle name for him yet. I mean I wouldn't mind naming him after one of our fathers' because sometimes that's tradition in families but I don't think I could pick between the two of them so perhaps we should go for something a little more neutral" she suggests.

"Yeah I agree" I nod. "I did actually have a thought though for the middle name" I say.

"Ok, what?" Brittany asks while giving me her full attention.

"How about Pierce as the middle name?" I suggest. I was honoured Britt wanted us to use only my last name for us all after we married but I think it would be nice to acknowledge her maiden name in some way too.

"Huh…I never thought about that" she says while thinking it over.

"We can all still use Lopez as our last name but I thought it might be nice if at least one of our children could have your family name in some way or another" I say.

"Yeah that would be nice" she smiles.

"It's settled then, our little boy is going to be called Aiden Pierce Lopez" I smile.

"It's got a nice ring to it I think and so does Aiden Lopez for whenever we don't need to use his middle name" Brittany says.

"I agree" I say while leaning down to kiss the top of Brittany's head.

"Hey why don't you pull up a chair next to me and you can hold him now" Brittany says.

"Ok" I say a little more excitedly than I meant to. It's just I've waited for this moment for nine months to finally get to hold my son and now it's here and I couldn't be more excited. As soon as I sit down, Brittany carefully places Aiden in my arms. "Huh…" I say aloud while thinking to myself.

"What's wrong babe?" Brittany asks.

"Nothing, it just feels different to what I thought it would but it's still really cool. He's a little heavier than I imagined he'd be" I say. After holding Aiden in my arms for a while, I gave him back to Brittany before I went outside to tell everyone it was ok to come in and see him. My mom was just about to get to hold her grandson for the first time when the doctor came in.

"Sorry to interrupt but I just wanted to see how you were feeling Brittany" the doctor says.

"Yeah, I'm ok" Brittany smiles.

"Do you mind if we go back to your room and I can just check your blood pressure and things?" the doctor asks.

"Sure but does that mean I have to leave the baby here?" Brittany asks.

"No, if everything is ok then I'm happy for the baby to stay in your room with you from now on" the doctor smiles.

"Ok" Brittany smiles happily.

"I do want to make sure you're still ok first though so why don't I take you back and Santana can sort things with the nurse about taking him back to the room and all your visitors can come and see you in your room in 10 minutes" the doctor suggests.

"Ok, no problem" Brittany replies. "I'll see you all in ten minutes" she says before the doctor wheels her away.

"Santana we'll all grab a coffee or something and then meet you in Brittany's room in ten minutes, ok?" my mom says.

"Ok" I nod. "Actually wait a second mom" I say just before she leaves.

"Yeah sweetheart" she smiles.

"Can you get me a coffee as well?" I ask and she nods her head while smiling at me. "Thanks mom" I smile back and everyone leaves. I quickly talk to the nurse and then I go with her to take Aiden back to Brittany's room in his little crib. Just as we walk inside, the doctor is finishing up with Brittany.

"Well your blood pressure seems to better now which is obviously good" the doctor says while removing the cuff from around Brittany's arm. "I'm just going to keep monitoring you but that's just normal procedure whenever you're in hospital but as far as I'm concerned you're doing fine at the moment" she says.

"Ok, thank you" Brittany says and then the doctor leaves along with the nurse.

"Well that's good then isn't it" I smile.

"Yeah, it is" Brittany smiles.

"Everyone will be here shortly but before they get here I'm going to get another cuddle from our son" I say while picking him up.

"Ok but don't do it for too long because I want to hold him again" Brittany says.

"I won't" I say while sitting next to Brittany on the bed with Aiden in my arms.

"Oh come on Santana, you've already held the baby so it's my turn now to hold my nephew" Eva says while walking over to me with everyone else following her into the room.

"Ok well you can hold him now but protect his head remember" I say while gently placing Aiden in her arms. "Make sure you cradle him right as well, he's precious" I state.

"Yes Santana, I'm not incompetent. I may not be a mom myself but we do have another nephew that I've held before" Eva says while rolling her eyes at me. She's only doing it because she knows I can get a little overprotective sometimes. I remember when she past her driving test and I let her drive my car for the first time, I was screaming at her the whole journey because I was so protective over my car. This is a whole different ball game now though, this is my son so I'm going to be a complete nightmare to everyone who doesn't have children because I get too overprotective.

"I'm sorry, I'll try my best to not get too worked up" I state.

"Good" Eva smiles. "Now do we have a name yet?" she asks.

"We do, everyone we'd like you to meet Aiden Pierce Lopez" I smile.

"Oh that's cute" Eva smiles while looking down at Aiden.

"Now before I get confused, is it Pierce-Lopez for the last name or is Pierce his middle name?" Emma asks.

"No Pierce is his middle name" Brittany replies.

"Ok, I just wanted to check" Emma nods.

"So as much as I love you all for being here but why aren't any of our brothers here?" I ask.

"Well Scott and Ben are coming together so they're currently on their way right now" Karen replies.

"And as for your brothers Santana, Eddie is stuck at work right now and Jason isn't sure if he can make it or not because Quinn wants to come and see you but they don't want to upset Harry's routine so they're fighting over who can come" my mom replies.

XXX

Brittany's brothers' eventually made it as did mine since Quinn decided she'd wait to see the baby until tomorrow when the rest of our friends come. After a while though, everyone decided to go home to let Brittany rest and let us have some alone time with the baby. The doctor has just finished checking on Brittany again and there is also a nurse discussing a few other things with us now.

"So from your plan it says you're going to breastfeed him, is that still the case?" the nurse asks.

"Yeah" Brittany nods. "Well I'm going to at least try to" she says nervously.

"I'm not going to lie to you, it might take a little getting used to but don't be too nervous" the nurse smiles.

"Ok" Brittany nods.

The first few attempts were a little uncomfortable for Brittany and Aiden didn't seem to want to feed either. After a few different positions of holding Aiden though, he seemed to latch on better and Brittany got more used to it. She still doesn't find it comfortable but she's putting up with it because she wants to do it for Aiden and she's just relieved he is actually feeding.

* * *

Brittany's POV

I just can't describe how eventful the last few hours have been. One minute I'm in the bathroom when my water breaks then Santana is driving me to the hospital then I'm having my baby and then suddenly everything goes black and I don't know what happened. I woke up without Santana and I panicked. I couldn't remember what happened and there was no baby inside me anymore but after the nurses calmed me down things got better.

"You should get some sleep baby, you look exhausted" Santana tells me.

"I don't want to go to sleep though, I want to spend every second with the two of you" I say.

"We'll be here when you wake up plus Aiden is sleeping now so we really should be sleeping to, that's what the nurse said anyway" she tells me. Since we have our own room and it's my first night with the baby then the hospital has allowed Santana to stay the night with Aiden and I which I'm really thankful for because I don't know how I would cope alone with the baby on the first night.

"Ok" I smile.

"You can get into bed and I'll make sure Aiden gets to sleep ok" Santana says while kissing the top of my head.

"Ok, thank you" I smile.

"Night babe" Santana smiles back.

"Night" I tell her before getting comfortable in bed.

I must have fallen asleep straight away because the next thing I know, I was waking up to feed Aiden again. It felt like barely any time had passed but a few hours had actually passed. After that though, I would immediately fall back asleep until the next feeding. However at 3am, I did wake up and see Aiden fast asleep and I wasn't due to feed him just yet so I just lay there silently for a little while. I looked over and saw Santana lying in the bed next to me fast asleep. I would have preferred it if she could be in the same bed as me but the one I'm in is a single and it's a hospital bed whereas the one Santana is in is also a single but it's just a normal bed that they wheel in for visitors so there's not a lot of room in that either. I mean it's not as if I can't sleep alone or anything, I just would have liked to have been closer to Santana today with everything that had happened.

Since Aiden was asleep, I really felt like waking Santana up just so I could talk to her but then she looked so peaceful so I didn't want to disturb her so I decided to go back to sleep myself.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Sunday 19th January 2020

"That's the most beautiful scene I've ever seen" I smile as I wake up at 7am.

"Sorry did we wake you?" Santana asks while turning around with Aiden in her arms. I don't think I've ever witnessed as cute a scene as Santana and her son in my life before.

"No, I just can't get over how cute you two look together" I tell her.

"Do you want to hold him?" she asks.

"Yeah but in a second, I need to use the bathroom first" I reply.

"Ok but just hold on. Let me put Aiden down so I can help you out of bed" Santana says while placing Aiden down in his crib.

"Santana I'm not incapacitated, I can manage but thank you" I say while slowly getting out of bed.

"Well if it's all the same I'd like to help you so just let me please" Santana states. "It'll put my mind at rest" she says.

"Fine" I sigh. "You can help me get out of bed and get me to the bathroom but that's as far as it goes. You aren't coming in with me" I tell her.

"Don't worry, I hadn't planned on that" she smiles.

"Oh…well that's good" I say slightly embarrassed. As soon as Santana helps me into the bathroom, she goes back over to Aiden's crib and I proceed to use the toilet. Once I'm done, I slowly make my way out of the bathroom and over to Santana and Aiden.

"Hey why don't you sit down in the chair here and I'll place Aiden in your arms" Santana says.

"Ok" I nod while slowly sitting down. "Hey sweetheart, it's mommy" I smile at Aiden when Santana places him in my arms.

"I think he wants you to feed him, I mean I tried but nothing happened" Santana jokes.

"Oh you did, did you?" I laugh.

"Yeah but like I say, nothing happened" she smiles. "I guess I'll leave that talent up to you."

"Yeah I think that's wise for the moment" I smile back.

"Anyway, how are you this morning?" Santana asks while gently leaning down to kiss me before sitting on the arm of the chair.

"Yeah I'm fine babe, I had a great sleep last night. I must have needed it" I reply.

"I'm not surprised with the day you had" Santana says.

"I am a little surprised though with how well I slept considering I was feeding Aiden so much throughout the night" I say.

"Yeah I was the same" Santana agrees. Any time I woke up to feed Aiden, Santana wanted to be awake too which I thought was really sweet. Even though I'm the only one who can feed Aiden at the moment, I still thought it was really nice of her to want to be awake too.

"How are you feeling this morning Brittany?" the doctor asks walking into the room, interrupting our conversation.

"I'm ok I guess but I do feel a bit sore" I admit.

"I'm not surprised, I didn't want to tell you and make things worse at the time but Aiden was a healthy weight and you're not exactly the largest person yourself so you did have to push rather hard" the doctor tells me.

"I didn't think I was overeating when I was pregnant" I say confused.

"Oh I didn't mean it like that Brittany" the doctor shakes her head. "I just meant you're very slim and Aiden was a healthy size and he wasn't premature so it was a bit harder for you. Don't worry though I don't mean Aiden is an overweight baby by any means because he's not."

"Oh right, ok I understand" I nod.

"Now is it pain or just a little sore and uncomfortable?" the doctor asks.

"It's not painful enough for painkillers or anything like that, I would say it's more discomfort" I reply.

"Ok well you might have that for a little longer but don't worry, we'll make sure everything is ok" the doctor smiles. "So what about breastfeeding, is that going ok?" she asks.

"Yeah it seems to be ok" I reply. "Aiden probably needs to be fed now so is there anything else you need to check before I can do that?" I ask.

"No I'll come back later and discuss a few things with you, I'll leave you to it now" the doctor smiles before leaving.

"Come on then Aiden, you look hungry so how about I feed you now" I say smiling at him while preparing myself to feed him.

"You never told me you were sore" Santana says while sitting down on the bed across from me.

"It's not something you're going to shout from the rooftops and tell your wife" I shrug.

"Brittany it doesn't bother me, there's no need to be embarrassed about any of this" she tells me.

"It's weird though because I think certain things should be kept private especially if we ever want to have sex again" I state.

"Trust me babe, most women are designed to have babies and adapt during childbirth so nothing is going to creep me out about this process. Being in labour or hurting isn't going to put me off sleeping with you again" she states. "I guess childbirth might not be the most glamourous thing in the world but it certainly doesn't make me think of you any differently."

"Are you sure because I'd understand" I say.

"Of course I'm sure" Santana smiles and I nod. "Now why don't I go and grab us something to eat…unless you want me to stay right now until you finish because I really don't mind."

"No we'll be fine plus I am actually quite hungry" I smile.

"Ok well I won't be long" she smiles before quickly kissing me and leaving the room.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed the chapter, let me know what you think. Also, hopefully everyone is ok with the name of the baby.


	20. Family

Chapter 20: Family

Brittany and Aiden both got out of hospital relatively quickly so we barely had any time to adjust to being parents before we were thrown into the deep end and at home alone with a new-born baby. I mean we've both been around babies before but it's nothing compared to having your own child. Even though we had spent a few nights in hospital looking after Aiden, it was still really daunting the first night we were at home with him. There were no doctors or nurses around to help anymore, it was just Brittany and I.

Aiden will officially be one week old tomorrow and to say these past six days have went fast would be a major understatement. They have been the quickest days of my life and parents really don't lie when they tell you you get no time to yourself. I knew raising a baby would be hard and it would take a lot of work but I really didn't expect it to be like this. I thought I would have least fifteen minutes to shower or grab something to eat but really there is no time whatsoever. Any spare minute we have we're trying to catch up on sleep. I read in one of the many books we have that whenever the baby sleeps we sleep so that's what we've been doing.

"Hey" Brittany smiles as she walks into the room with Aiden in her arms.

"Hi" I smile back.

"I need to shower and change now so can you watch Aiden for me?" she asks.

"Of course babe" I say while taking Aiden from her arms.

"I won't be long" she smiles.

"It's fine, take your time. Aiden and I are going to play downstairs anyway" I reply. "Isn't that right darling?" I smile at him but he doesn't really respond, he just looks at me like I'm crazy.

"Anyway, I'm leaving" Brittany laughs while heading to the en suite to shower. Aiden and I meanwhile make our way downstairs.

It's about half an hour later when I'm making Aiden watch reruns of Friends with me when Brittany walks into the living room.

"So how do I look" she asks.

"As sexy as hell" I smile.

"Be serious please. I am meeting one of my professors today to go over a plan for how I'll work things at home so I want to look like I can handle being a parent and a student at the same time" Brittany replies.

"You look perfectly fine honey, honestly" I smile.

"Ok" Brittany nods. "I don't want it to come across that I just threw any old thing on because I was too busy to get ready properly."

"Britt don't overthink things. I am sure you're professor will have kids or at least know what it's like so I wouldn't worry about it" I say trying to reassure her.

"We can handle this…can't we?" Brittany says unsurely.

"Of course we can" I tell her. "I'm going to be here helping with Aiden for the next few weeks so ideally that'll give you a head start on your coursework and when I am back at work then I can look after Aiden all weekend while you catch up."

"We've been so busy with Aiden since we brought him home from the hospital that I don't know where I'm meant to fit in the time to study even with you here" Brittany sighs.

"Honey we're just getting used to things but they'll settle down soon" I say. I'm not entirely sure they will but I can't have Brittany getting worked up about her education. She really doesn't want to defer to next year since she's only got this semester left to do before she graduates so I'm really trying to make sure things go to plan.

"Ok" Brittany nods while taking a deep breath. "I suppose I should be going then."

"Yeah you should, you don't want to be late" I tease.

"I'll see you in a while then and you too Aiden" she says while leaning down to kiss Aiden on the head.

"Um…excuse me" I smirk.

"What?" Brittany asks confused.

"Where's mine?"

"Right…sorry" she laughs before quickly kissing me.

"I'll see you later" I tell her.

"Bye" Brittany replies before leaving the room. No sooner does she leave it that she's back.

"Can we help you?" I smile.

"Are you honestly sure you're going to be ok with Aiden all by yourself while I go out?" Brittany asks.

"Are you kidding, of course I'm going to be ok" I smile. "You know he loves spending time with his mom."

"I know but this will be the first proper time you're going to be alone with him. I'm not just going to quickly run an errand, I'm going to be some time because my professor wants to go through absolutely everything with me" she tells me.

"Take all the time you need babe, trust me we'll be ok" I reassure her.

"But…"

"Honey if you don't leave right now, I will personally push you out the door" I tease.

"Ok-ok, no need to get physical" she smiles.

"Honestly we're going to be fine so please just go" I say.

"I will, I'll text you when I'm leaving so you'll know when I'll roughly be home" Brittany says.

"Ok babe, see you later" I smile. She smiles back before finally leaving this time. "Just you and me Aid, are you excited?" He just looks at me like he did before but I don't expect him to smile or anything yet so I'm ok with it.

* * *

Brittany's POV

I've just pulled into the parking lot of the university and I'm contemplating on calling Santana to see how things are. It's not that I don't trust her or anything, I'm just worried because none of us have spent that long on our own with Aiden before. I mean I know I'd be nervous if Santana was to leave the house for more than a few hours and I had to take care of everything myself. Sure I need to do it at some point but I've still got a good few weeks left before Santana will go back to work.

Just as I pull my phone out to call Santana, I notice I already have a text from her.

 _From Santana: everything is fine babe, you don't need to call x_

I can't help but laugh as I type out a reply.

 _To Santana: how did you know I was going to call? X_

 _From Santana: because I know you babe_

 _To Santana: so everything really is ok then?_

 _From Santana: it's absolutely fine so forget about us right now and go in there and show that professor you're more than capable of getting all your work done at home as well as parenting our son._

 _To Santana: ok x_

 _From Santana: we both love you and we'll see you later x_

 _To Santana: I love you both too. I'll go now but give Aiden a kiss from me_

 _From Santana: I will x_

As soon as we finish texting, I go straight inside to meet with my professor. I haven't been here since before Christmas but surprisingly it feels like just yesterday that I was still pregnant sitting in a boring lecture desperate to get home to Santana.

"Brittany, it's good to see you. In you come" Professor Burke says while holding the door of his office open for me.

"Thanks" I smile politely.

"So before we get started, I just want to quickly check with you about how long you'll be off for" he says and I nod. "I've got it written down here that it was 6 weeks, is that correct?"

"Yeah, ideally I want to do the first 6 weeks at home and then hopefully come back for the rest to end the semester" I say.

"Ok good, we're on the same page here" he nods. "There is one slight problem about that though. Since one of your modules are continually assessed then that means you're going to be getting a few exams throughout the weeks. I wouldn't say every three weeks but it works out about that since your first exam is in week three."

"Oh right" I nod.

"We don't really have the resources for you to sit an important exam at home so what I would suggest is that just for that day in week three then perhaps you could get someone to babysit and you can just come in and sit the exam with everyone else. You don't need to go to any classes or anything, all you would need to do is come into the university for the exam" he says.

"I mean I could certainly do that and hopefully by the time we have the next exam then I might already be back to attending classes etc." I say.

"Ok good, that's sorted then. You'll get your daily emails anyway about all the lectures and tutorials so I will let you know the exact date and time that we'll be doing that" he replies.

"Ok thank you" I nod.

"Your other modules have the main exam at the end and you'll have weekly coursework to do for them so are you still ok for just working on that at home and handing in the finished pieces by the due date?" my professor asks.

"Yeah that's fine" I nod. "Is there any way that maybe every so often I could come in and speak to you to make sure I'm understanding the material ok?"

"Of course, my door is always open. I know you want to be at home as much as possible for the first few weeks but anything you don't understand then just come and see me or even email me about it" Professor Burke replies.

XXX

As soon as I park my car outside the house, I rush inside to see Santana and Aiden. I haven't seen them since this morning and I really miss them.

"Hey, I'm home" I shout as I kick off my shoes. Santana rushes out of the living room looking worse for wear and barely dressed might I add.

"Honey you have to keep it down, Aiden has just went to sleep" she sighs.

"Sorry" I whisper.

"So how did your meeting go, did you get everything sorted out with your professor?" Santana asks.

"Yeah it's all sorted thankfully" I smile.

"Good, that'll be a relief for you" she says.

"Yeah" I nod. "Um…I hope you don't mind me asking but what's going on?"

"What do you mean?" she frowns in confusion.

"You know I like your breasts, like love them" I say perhaps too eagerly, "but why are you standing shirtless right now?"

"Oh right" she laughs. "I just finished feeding Aiden when suddenly he threw up on me so I just had to get that shirt off because it was really gross. I never even had a chance to put another one on because he kept crying and I couldn't get him to settle. I've only just got him to sleep now."

"Ok well I'll keep an eye on him just now if you want to go and tidy yourself up a bit and put a shirt on" I say.

"Thanks babe" she says while quickly kissing my cheek and leaving the room.

I just sit quietly in the living room while I wait on Santana coming back. I really want to pick Aiden up and hug him but I don't think it'd be nice of me to wake him plus I don't think Santana would take too kindly to that either since it sounds like she had a hard time getting him to sleep in the first place.

"Is that you all tidied up then?" I ask as Santana throws herself to the couch next to me.

"Yeah" she says letting a huge sigh of relief out.

"Hard day was it?" I ask.

"It wasn't too bad" she shrugs.

"Be honest with me babe" I tell her.

"Ok yes it was hard today. I mean I knew it would be by myself but I didn't think it'd be quite like that. He really does demand my attention a lot" Santana sighs.

"Maybe I should just defer to next year and finish uni then" I say.

"No we're not doing that" Santana shakes her head. "I am not making you do that because you've worked so hard and it's only one semester left."

"I know but if we can't cope then it's the best option" I say.

"Brittany I have my career so I'm not making you wait another year and a half to have yours. We're just going to have to power through these next six months" she tells me.

"But how can I study as well as look after Aiden. You found it really tough today and you weren't even studying so how am I meant to do that?" I ask.

"I'll just need to start working weekends and take a few weekdays off or I'll start working from home one day a week and hopefully you can study that day and I'll look after Aiden" Santana suggests.

"You working from home and looking after Aiden is the same as me studying and looking after Aiden" I point out.

"Look let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm still off work for the next few weeks so I'll take care of Aiden and you can just study" she replies.

"It's not as easy as that. I'm still breastfeeding Aiden so I'm going to be interrupted every so often to feed him. Plus I feel incredibly bad for not being there for him all the time" I say.

"You are there for him though. I'm not saying you stay away from him; I'm saying you can take a few hours out and just study and I will be here for all the feedings and changing his diaper. You just need to make sure you make up some bottles for me. I mean you've got a breast pump so just use that and when you're done studying for the day then you can do the rest of the feedings or whatever" Santana says.

"That's all good in theory Santana but what about money as well. Maternity leave doesn't pay nearly as much as normal pay so are we going to manage in that respect" I say.

"Brittany this is only for 6 months until you graduate and then you'll get a full time job and I'll be back at work normally" Santana replies. "I mean I'm not saying I'm off for six months but I'm certainly off the next few weeks to help."

"You seem so positive about this" I sigh.

"Look we'll make it work. It won't be easy and we might not get to spend much time together but like I say, you'll be graduating in 6 months so we're going to be ok" Santana reassures me.

"Ok" I nod.

"The most important thing to remember here is that we're finally a family. We've got a beautiful son and we're both really happy together. If it ever gets tough then we just need to remember that and it'll help us through it" Santana says.

"You're right" I nod. "It might be stressful but the important thing is we're a family just like we always wanted to be."

"Exactly" Santana smiles while leaning over to kiss me.

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Monday 3rd February 2020

"Hey" Santana whispers in my ear as she wraps her arms around my waist from behind.

"Hi" I smile, quickly glancing at her before turning my head back around.

"I just got Aiden off to sleep so I thought we could spend some time together since we barely got a minute on your birthday the other day. We could watch a movie or something just now and just relax" Santana suggests.

"I can't babe, I'm busy" I say regrettably.

"Oh come on, it's just dishes. We can wash them later" she says while spinning me around to face her.

"It's not that" I reply. "Once I was done here I was going to get started on an assignment. I figured with you keeping an eye on Aiden then that would give me time to sit down properly and get to work on it."

"Ok that's cool" Santana nods sadly.

"I am sorry babe but this is the perfect opportunity to do some studying" I say.

"I know and I understand" she smiles. "Hey how about I help you?"

"You don't need to do that" I say.

"I know but Aiden is asleep anyway and it'll give us time to spend together" she smiles. "I don't know a lot about your course but I can always research things for you and format your assignment if you just write the bulk of it."

"Like I say you don't need to do that but I won't say no to some help if you really want to" I smile.

"That's settled then" she smiles back. "I'll grab my laptop and start researching the topic you've to write about."

"Ok" I say while quickly kissing her cheek before she leaves.

XXX

Santana and I have been working on my assignment for 3 hours now and I think I may have the first draft done. Even though Santana had to go and check on Aiden a lot throughout I still think we got a really good start on it.

"So do you want to continue with it or do you want to take a break and you can look over it again tomorrow?" Santana asks.

"It's a good enough first draft just now so I'll leave it until tomorrow to make changes. I've got the majority of it done, I just want to tidy it up and maybe tweak a few things tomorrow once I've took a break" I reply.

"Cool" Santana smiles. "So is there anything else you want to start on?"

"There is an online quiz I need to take for another class so if you're still ok keeping an eye on Aiden then I can do that now. It's timed so we're only allowed 50 minutes on it" I say.

"Don't you want my help?" she asks.

"I should be ok doing it myself because I can use all the notes and books I have" I reply.

"But it's timed though so you want to make sure you have enough time to look and type in the answers to all the questions" Santana says.

"Honestly I think I'll be ok" I smile.

"Look at least just let me sit next to you and I can find the right chapter in the book for you for the next question. When you're typing up the first answer I'll just get the book ready for you for the next question" Santana shrugs.

"Ok" I smile. I know Santana really likes it when she helps me so it's best not to argue even though I feel bad for making her do this with me.

"Hey do you remember I used to come over to your house and help you with your school assignments when we were younger?" she asks.

"I do" I smile at the memory. "Or I'd be sitting at work on my break doing homework and you'd come and keep me company even though you had more exciting things to do that day."

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Tuesday 4th February 2020

It's 6am and I'm lying awake in bed waiting on Aiden wakening up. He got into a routine really quickly so he often wakes up at 6am so my body has been kind of programmed into waking up at that time every day. Don't get me wrong, he wakes up many times throughout the night as well but the 6am wake up seems to be the only one my body seems to remember so sometimes I'm awake before Aiden.

"Someone has awoken early" I smirk when I feel Santana roll over and press against me.

"That's what happens when I dream about my beautiful wife" Santana replies while pressing a kiss to my cheek.

"Don't you want to get some more sleep?" I ask. Usually I like to get up with Aiden at 6am and let Santana sleep because she always seems to be up with him at 4am.

"Not really, I'd rather have you than sleep" she smirks while leaning in to kiss me again.

"You know that can't happen right now" I say regrettably.

"I know you want to wait until you're 6 week check-up before we have sex but it doesn't mean we can't do anything" she smiles.

"I know but I just thought you would be tired right now" I smile back.

"So did I but apparently I'm not" she smiles while gesturing down to her crotch.

"I could always take care of that for you" I smirk.

"I was hoping you would say that" Santana smirks back while leaning into me and kissing me. I slowly kiss her back and move so I'm straddling her hips. I gently slide my hand down past the waistband of her pyjamas. "Uh…" she says as I wrap my hand around her extremely hard member.

"Wow you weren't lying when you said you were hard this morning" I point out, slightly surprised.

"I did tell you that I was dreaming about you" she replies.

"I thought you just meant in general, I didn't realise it was like a sexy dream" I smile.

"Well it was, like really sexy" she smiles.

"Ok" I nod and then lean down again to kiss her before beginning to move my hand. I barely move it an inch when Aiden suddenly screams.

"Damn" Santana groans.

"I should go and check on him" I say while getting off of Santana and out of bed. "Sorry babe."

"It's fine" she sighs.

"Why don't you take care of that in the shower and I'll feed Aiden" I tell her.

"I wanted you to do it" she playfully whines.

"Just think of me when you're doing it baby" I smile.

"Don't worry I will" she smiles back before getting out of bed.

* * *

I know the chapter is short but I wanted to get something out since it's been so long since I updated this. I already have a few ideas for the next chapter so ideally I'll update again soon and it'll be a little less boring.


	21. Struggling

Chapter 21: Struggling

Santana's POV

Brittany and I are just sitting down to breakfast. Brittany has a big test today so while she's having breakfast she's going through some of her notes. I can tell she's really nervous about it but I'm sure she's going to do great because she's super smart and I can see how hard she's working. I on the other hand, I'm pretty excited about today. Since Brittany is going to be out for a few hours then I'm getting to look after Aiden all day and we're getting into a slightly better routine now so I know what I'm doing.

"Hey babe" I say to get Brittany's attention.

"Yeah" she replies looking up from her notes.

"If I don't get a chance to say later then good luck in your test today" I tell her.

"For the tenth time babe, it's not a test; it's an exam" Brittany states slightly annoyed. "There's a difference, exams are way harder than tests."

"I'm sorry, exam" I smile. "Honey there is no need to get worked up because you're super smart and it's an open book test anyway so you'll have all your things in front of you."

"I'm not worked up" Brittany shrugs but I can tell she's trying to play it cool even though the nerves are building up inside her.

"I can tell by your tone you're getting nervous but all I'm saying is don't be because you have your material in front of you" I say.

"Yeah but they'll be a lot stricter with the grades because of that. Since we have our books with us then we should know the subject well and even be able to add in things that the books don't tell us to show we can do independent study" Brittany replies.

"But that's what you have been doing anyway since you haven't been going into lectures and things because of Aiden" I say.

"I suppose" she shrugs.

"Look honey, it's just the first major piece of coursework anyway so as long as you pass you've got nothing to worry about. You might just need to make sure you do better on further assignments if that is the case" I say. "There's plenty of time to redeem things if you don't get as good a grade as you hope. I mean you don't want to go in their shitting yourself and end up doing badly because you are so stressed so you just need to stay calm anyway regardless of what happens."

"I appreciate that babe but try and not swear around Aiden" Brittany says while leaning over to kiss my cheek.

"Sorry, it just slipped out" I reply. "He won't have picked up on it yet but I get that you don't want me to get into the habit of swearing in front of him because when he is more aware he'll end up repeating me."

"Yeah" Brittany smiles.

"Hey if you need to get ready then I'm all good here to clean up" I say noticing Brittany begin tidying up her breakfast dishes.

"Are you sure?" she asks.

"Of course, I've got Aiden to help me anyway" I smile, "he likes watching the bubbles float through the air from the soap when I'm washing the dishes."

"Ok" Brittany smiles before leaving the room to get ready. As soon as I've cleared up, I take Aiden through to the living room and we start playing with his toys.

"I meant to ask, do you want a ride or are you just going to drive?" I ask as Brittany walks into the room.

"I'll drive and it'll let you have time to get yourself ready" Brittany smiles.

"Do I not look respectable or something this morning?" I tease.

"With Aiden's sick in your hair, not really" Brittany smirks.

"Hold on, what?" I ask while frantically running to the nearest mirror. "Aiden, honey. You're ruining mom's appearance" I say jokingly before going over to tickle him.

"Um…excuse me" Brittany states. "You have a little sick in your hair, I carried him for 9 months. I think my appearance is more affected than yours."

"It's not a competition Brittany" I reply playfully.

"Well if it were, I'd be winning" Brittany smiles.

"No I wouldn't say that, you look pretty good to me" I tell her.

"Not as good as you though. I may have caught a glimpse of you in the shower this morning and I may have quite enjoyed what I saw" Brittany winks.

"Oh really?" I smile while walking over to her and wrapping my arms around her. "Were you being sneaky about it because I certainly didn't leave the bathroom door open?"

"Aiden was asleep so I figured I'd quickly grab my moisturiser to moisturise when I had a spare moment" Brittany shrugs.

"Is that your excuse, huh" I tease.

"It's not an excuse, it's the truth" Brittany tells me as she wraps her arms around me.

"Are you sure it's the truth because as I remember you keep your moisturiser in the other bathroom now because it's easier to hear Aiden from that bathroom" I point out.

"Ok so I just went in there to look at you" Brittany laughs. "Is that such a crime?"

"If I walked in on you in the shower on purpose you wouldn't be happy about it, would you?" I smirk.

"No but that's different" Brittany replies while looking down. "Your body hasn't changed since Aiden but mine has" she pouts.

"My body is also not the same as it was when I was 18, things happen but you still love me right?" I say.

"I didn't know you at 18" Brittany frowns.

"Yeah but you love me now. I was way hotter at 18 than I am now but you still love me anyway" I say.

"Ok first of all, from the pictures I've seen you look hotter now and secondly I'd love you no matter what you looked like and that's not just me sweet talking you" Brittany smiles.

"And I feel the exact same way about you" I smile back.

"I'm just not used to my body changing that's all. I don't mean to be insecure" Brittany says.

"I think you look great anyway, I'm certainly not complaining" I say. "So anyway, let's get back to your leering."

"I wasn't leering, I was just having a quick look" Brittany laughs.

"If you're lucky tonight then I could let you have a longer look" I smirk.

"I would really like that but right now your son is staring at me and it's putting me off slightly" Brittany jokes.

"Hey if you didn't have a look at what I had to offer, he wouldn't be here" I joke back.

"Anyway if we can I will take you up on that offer later but right now I need to get going" Brittany says.

"Yeah I should probably give Aid some attention" I say going over to pick him up.

"Now the exam only takes 2 hours but I've left 4 bottles of milk for Aiden so that should be plenty until I'm back" she tells me.

"Yeah that's fine babe" I reply.

"Do you need me to pick anything up from the grocery store on the way home?" she asks.

"There is a few things we need so how about we both go once your exam is done. I'll get Aiden all ready for you getting home and we can just go straight there, I'll drive if you want" I say.

"Ok cool" Brittany smiles. "I best be off now."

"Ok" I nod before kissing her.

"I'm going now Aid" Brittany smiles at him.

"Are you going to give mommy a good luck kiss" I say while holding Aiden towards Brittany. He puts his head to the side and looks at her intently before putting his hand out and touching Brittany's hair.

"It's not a kiss but I'll take it" Brittany smiles at him again before kissing his head.

XXX

"This will be Aiden's first trip around the grocery store since you went the last few times yourself" Brittany says as we drive to the store.

"That's right" I nod. "I can't say I'm looking forward to putting him into a dirty cart with lots of germs to be honest though."

"That's fine, we can just take his stroller and someone can push that and the other can push the cart" Brittany says.

"Yeah that's a better plan because I don't know how many kids have been put into those seats on the carts. There'll be germs everywhere and I doubt the carts ever get cleaned" I state.

"Do you know I find your OCD very endearing" Brittany smiles. "Your sister makes fun of you all the time about it but I find it really cute."

"It's not OCD, I just get a little apprehensive now and again since we have Aiden. Before all I had to worry about was myself but now we have a baby to worry about so I don't want him getting sick or anything" I say.

"I appreciate that and I don't want him to get sick either but sometimes you need to expose kids a little so they can build up a good immune system. I mean Aiden is probably far too young just now but like it's good to expose toddlers a little bit" Brittany says.

"I get that but he's just 4 weeks old just now" I say.

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Wednesday 26th February 2020

"You'll be able to get a lot more coursework done today since I'll be looking after Aiden" I say as I play with Aiden while Brittany is getting ready.

"Aren't you working today?" Brittany asks confused.

"I am, but its take your son to work day" I reply.

"No it's not" she smiles.

"It is babe" I tell her.

"No it's really not honey" she laughs.

"Fine, ok" I playfully sigh. "I will be taking Aiden to work with me though anyway. That way you can get your work done in peace."

"Santana that's not the reason you're taking him. I mean, yes you would do that for me because you're so kind but I know the real reason as to why you're taking Aiden to work" Brittany says.

"I don't know what you mean" I say playing dumb.

"You just want to show him off to everyone" she smiles.

"No that's not…I mean…fine you got me" I laugh.

"It's ok though, if you want to take Aiden to work then it's cool with me. Like you say, I'll get more of my studying done" Brittany smiles.

"Cool" I smile back. "So uh, should I make a start on breakfast?"

"Yeah, ok. I'm almost done here so I can look after Aiden while you're preparing it" Brittany says.

"Cool" I smile.

As soon as we've eaten breakfast, Brittany helps me get Aiden ready for the day and then I leave for work with him.

XXX

Aiden is peacefully sleeping so I'm just sitting at my computer in my office going over some things taking advantage of this quiet time. I get about 20 minutes work done before someone knocks at the door interrupting me.

"Come in" I say while looking up at the door, internally praying whoever it is hasn't woken up Aiden.

"Hey" Quinn smiles as she walks into the room.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" I smile while going over to hug my best friend.

"I just thought I would come and visit you since I was nearby plus we haven't seen one another in a while" Quinn smiles. "A week I guess but that's still a while."

"That's cool, come and sit down" I say pointing to an empty chair.

"Thanks" Quinn says while sitting down.

"So how are you?" I ask.

"I'm good, Harry is with your brother today so I thought I'd have some alone time before I quickly got bored so decided to come and see you" Quinn replies.

"Well I'm glad I can entertain you" I joke.

"Yeah" Quinn laughs. "So what's happening with you?"

"Not much. Brittany is busy studying hard and I've been…" I can't finish my sentence because Aiden starts crying so I rush over to him. "Hey sweetie, what's wrong?"

"You have no idea how much of a fright I just got Santana. I didn't even know he was here" Quinn says while putting her hand over her chest.

"Sorry" I laugh.

"So what's going on here, why is Aiden here?" Quinn asks slightly confused.

"I decided to bring Aiden to work to give Brittany some time to study and obviously to show off the cutest boy in town. Doesn't he look so handsome today especially wearing his little tie?" I say smiling at Aiden.

"He's cute but not as cute as my son" Quinn smirks.

"Whatever" I wave it off.

"So no offence but can you actually get much done when he's here?" Quinn asks.

"Yeah I can actually. He's settled into a routine pretty quickly which I was surprised about so I know how to fit things around him" I reply.

"That's cool" Quinn nods. "Harry wasn't quite into a routine yet at that age but he's a lot better now obviously."

"Yeah he behaved amazingly last week at his birthday party" I say.

"Yeah he did actually. I think he likes it when there's a lot of people around" Quinn replies.

"He liked Aiden anyway which was cute" I smile.

"Yeah it was" Quinn agrees. "So anyway, how's Brittany?"

"Still my wife which is good" I joke.

"Yeah I'm surprised she's still with you considering how flirtatious you are with everyone" Quinn smirks.

"That's not funny, I don't flirt with anyone but Britt" I state but I know she's only joking.

"Seriously though, how is Brittany coping with motherhood?" Quinn asks. "I mean I guess you'll both have slightly different views on things since you're back at work and Brittany has only just got back to uni."

"She seems to be coping really good" I smile.

"And you?" Quinn asks.

"Yeah…I...uh, I'm doing well too" I say while putting Aiden back down since he's settled now.

"You don't sound too sure" Quinn points out.

"No I am good, it's just as much as I love that we have Aiden now, I also kinda miss Britt" I say honestly. "I don't mean she has changed or anything, I just mean we never get time just the two of us anymore because when I'm working she has Aiden and when she's at uni Aiden is either with me or he's with one of our parents and I'm at work. There's never a free time where we're both there, not even with Aiden anymore" I say.

"It's hard for me to compare because I wasn't at college so I didn't have those pressures on me. I was basically off work looking after Harry for about 8 months" Quinn replies.

"I suppose" I nod. "I mean even at nights now Brittany is so busy with college work that I look after Aiden and she sits in the study all night. The only time we get any time together is in bed and that's just to sleep because we've been so busy."

"All that's to be expected though Santana. Things will come gradually just like they did with Aiden's routine. I mean at least he's settling down a bit better now, can you imagine having that on top of how you are busy right now?" Quinn says.

"You do have a point and I mean I did know this would happen and I am ok with it, I just can't help but really miss Britt" I say.

"She misses you too though, don't you think?" Quinn asks.

"Yeah I know she does" I nod.

"Hey maybe you could just ask your parents to have Aiden one night or I could even have him and that'll let you two have some alone time" Quinn suggests.

"Yeah my parents or Brittany's wouldn't mind at all to have him but that's not the only thing at the moment" I say. "See Brittany didn't want us to do anything until her 6 week check-up so we've been kinda staying away from that kind of thing."

"Yeah I get that" Quinn nods.

"Did you want to wait until at least your check-up too?" I ask.

"Yeah because you don't want to rush anything in case your body hasn't quite healed or whatever. I mean generally everything is fine but sometimes the muscles get a little weak" Quinn replies.

"Was everything ok for you then?" I ask.

"Mostly but I did have a little back pain to begin with but the doctor told me to do some exercises and it was fine in no time" Quinn replies.

"So how long did you need to wait after having Harry before you had sex?" I ask. "I mean I'm not pressurising Britt or anything, I'm just wondering how long I need to wait if things did take a little longer."

"It really depends on the person to be honest" Quinn replies.

"That's cool. I just thought I'd ask you because I didn't want Britt to think I was rushing her so I wanted to be respectful but it has been a while" I admit.

"Like I say, Brittany is probably feeling the same as well" Quinn says and I nod.

"So how long for you personally was it?" I ask.

"Well that's different because I wasn't with your brother when I had Harry plus do you really want to know about Jason and me?" Quinn smirks.

"No I do not" I frown. "I was totally forgetting it was my brother" I say trying to shake this thought out of my head. I guess that's what I get for being so nosy but I was just curious how others feel right now.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Friday 28th February 2020

"Ok I'll do Aiden's check-up first and then we'll do yours Brittany" the doctor says. We're sitting in the doctor's office for Brittany and Aiden's check-ups.

"Ok no problem" Brittany smiles.

"If you just want to place Aiden on the couch here Santana that would be good" the doctor replies.

"Are you going to be a good boy for the doctor" I say smiling down at him before placing him down on the couch.

"I'm sure he will be" the doctor smiles at Aiden while beginning his check-up.

Brittany and I just sit and watch the doctor examining him. We're both a little apprehensive because Aiden hasn't really been around that many people other than our family so we don't want him to get scared and start crying.

"Ok, everything is looking great with Aiden. I'm really happy with his progress" the doctor smiles.

"That's good, I'm glad" Brittany says relieved.

"Are you going to go back to your mom now while I get your mommy checked over" the doctors says while lifting Aiden off the couch and placing him on my knee.

"You did good sweetheart" I say kissing his head. I had expected him to cry a bit during the examination but he really didn't.

"Ok Brittany, I'm just going to take a note of your weight first and then I'll check your blood pressure" the doctor says. "Why don't you just step onto the scales for me" she says and Brittany nods.

Once Brittany steps on the scales, it confuses me because the doctor seems to frown suddenly while noting down Brittany's weight.

"Ok Brittany, you can step off now" the doctor replies slightly concerned.

"What's wrong?" Brittany asks confused.

"Let's just finish the check up and then we'll sit down and talk" the doctor smiles.

"Um…ok" Brittany says taking a seat next to me and the doctor. "You're making me nervous now though so isn't that going to affect my blood pressure?"

"There's nothing to be nervous about, don't worry" the doctor smiles.

"Ok" Brittany says still confused.

As soon as the doctor finishes the check-up and puts all her notes into the computer, she swings her chair around to face Brittany.

"So…I want to talk to you about a few things" she says looking concerned.

"Why are you doing that?" I glare. "You say there's nothing to worry about but then you have this concerned look across your face" I state. I really wanted to bite my tongue but I just couldn't. The doctor isn't exactly filling me with confidence right now and I'm worried there's something wrong with Britt.

"I don't want you to get panicked that's all but there is something we need to discuss" the doctor replies.

"Ok, what is it?" Brittany asks.

"Your weight seems vastly different than before Brittany" the doctor replies.

"Well is that not just because I've had a baby so I've gained a lot more weight during the pregnancy" Brittany states.

"Yeah I mean it happens all the time when you're pregnant doesn't it?" I say confused.

"No I mean before you were even pregnant. When I last weighed you during the pregnancy you had put on some weight which like you both said is normal but now it's vastly different" the doctor replies.

"Yes because I've gained weight during the pregnancy" Brittany snaps starting to get frustrated with the doctor.

"Honey…" I say placing my hand on her knee to calm her down.

"I'm sorry, I should have been clearer. I mean you are a lot lighter than you've ever been. I wasn't talking about gaining weight, I was talking about you losing it" the doctor says.

"Oh" Brittany says surprised.

"Have your eating habits changed a lot since you had Aiden?" the doctor asks.

"I didn't think they had" Brittany shakes her head.

"You're back at work Santana so have you been eating with Brittany when you get home or have you been eating separately?" the doctor asks.

"No we eat together" I nod.

"And has your weight changed at all?" the doctor replies.

"Not that I know of which is weird why Britt's has. I mean I make breakfast for both of us in the morning and we have dinner together at night. I mean the only time we don't eat together is lunch and surely that's not going to make a huge difference" I state.

"Maybe the scales weren't calibrated properly" Brittany shrugs.

"I've got another set here so let me quickly weigh you on those" the doctor says. She and Brittany then walk over to the other set of scales.

"Have these given a different result?" Brittany asks as she steps on.

"No they're just the same" the doctor sighs.

"I don't understand this" I say as Brittany and the doctor sit back down.

"Like I say I don't want to panic you but it is unusual to lose this amount of weight already. I mean Aiden is only 6 weeks old and you're already lighter than you've ever been Brittany" the doctor says.

"Couldn't this just be because I'm a new parent and I haven't gotten into a routine yet? I mean I've been running around like a crazy person trying to do everything so maybe I'm burning off the weight" Brittany says. "I mean you've no idea the number of times I go up and down the stairs, just yesterday I came down with Aiden's washing and completely forgot to bring Santana's down too so I had to run back up and get it. Then this morning I had too much to carry downstairs so I had to make a few trips, I had Aiden the first time, then when Santana fed him I had to run back up and get clean clothes for him and then the third time I forgot my phone and a pile of my coursework that I was going to work on."

"That could be a possibility because a lot of new mothers feel like that where they're running around all the time getting everything done" the doctor says.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Saturday 29th February 2020

I'm just sitting relaxing in front of the TV with a magazine making the most of the peace and quiet. My mom called earlier in the day and asked if we wanted her to babysit Aiden because she was looking after Harry anyway so she thought it might be nice for them to spend some time together since they're cousins. Brittany seemed cool with it so I suggested that we make most of the time we had together and went out for lunch, just the two of us. As much as we love Aiden, it was really nice getting to talk about adult things and not about diapers and milk and cleaning up baby sick.

"Hey baby" Brittany says seductively as she walks into the room.

"Uh…hi" I say slightly surprised.

"I just got off the phone with your mom and she's happy to keep Aiden for the night and she'll bring him home tomorrow around lunchtime" Brittany smiles.

"Ok, cool" I smile.

"So yeah that's all I need to say. I'm just going to head straight upstairs to bed now if you're interested in joining me" she smiles. "I must warn you though, a terrible hot feeling has come over me so I'm going to have to lose the clothes."

"I can be down with that" I smirk.

"Come on then" she says while making her way upstairs. I quickly follow after her.

As soon as we get to our bedroom, I kick the door shut and Brittany wraps her arms around my waist. I smile before wrapping my arms around her neck and leaning in to kiss her.

"I've missed this" Brittany says leaning her forehead against mine, "I've missed you."

"I've missed you too" I smile.

"Shall we move this to the bed?" Brittany asks with a slight smirk across her face.

"Sounds good to me" I smirk back.

We quickly begin undressing before getting into the bed. Brittany leans down and kisses me a few times before moving to straddle me.

"Hey what if I wanted to straddle you right now?" I tease.

"Well you can do that in round 2" she smirks.

"Fine by me" I smile while leaning up to catch her lips.

We kiss for a few more seconds before Brittany begins her trail down to my neck. I reach up and place my hands on Brittany's waist. Suddenly the moment I do that, everything comes crashing towards me in my head. It's like everything has come together and now makes sense all because of one touch. I can literally feel Brittany's hip bones piercing her skin and I can see flashbacks of this morning. I did make her breakfast as usual but I wasn't actually there when she ate it. I had to rush upstairs to get Aiden ready for my mom and during lunch we were too busy talking and just having fun just the two of us that I didn't really notice how much she ate.

"Wait a second" I say pushing Brittany gently off me. Regrettably so might I add but I can't not say anything about this. We need to talk about it.

"What's wrong?" Brittany asks, slightly confused but worried at the same time.

"I think the doctor was right babe" I say gently.

"What are you talking about?" Brittany asks confused.

"You are losing weight Britt" I sigh.

"Maybe so but it's probably just because I'm running around after Aiden all the time so I'm getting exercise when I don't even realise it" Brittany smiles. "We've already talked about this babe" she says while straddling me again.

"Honey, talk to me" I say gently. I don't want to just say how I feel right now, I want to encourage Brittany to tell me first.

"Talk to you about what" she shrugs. "I just told you what's going on so can we forget about it please. We've finally got a night alone so let's be alone and do something fun" she smirks.

"Talk to me about this weight issue" I reply.

"There is nothing to say babe, honestly" Brittany smiles while leaning down to kiss me. "I finally have the all clear from the doctor so can we please take advantage of that."

"Brittany, please" I say stopping her from kissing me.

"Babe if you don't want to have sex with me right now, just say. There's no need to make up excuses to get out of it" Brittany says while sitting up slightly but still straddling me. "I'm a big girl, I can handle it don't worry."

"This isn't what this is Britt" I shake my head. "I've been dying to have sex with you for ages" I chuckle slightly, "but seriously though, we need to talk."

"About what?" Brittany sighs getting frustrated.

"About why you have stopped eating" I state.

"I haven't stopped eating" Brittany states. "I've just been super busy lately that my diet has changed but I still eat."

"Barely" I shake my head. "Please can you just open up to me" I say almost begging her.

"If we keep talking we're going to start an argument and I'm not doing that right now. This is our first night away from Aiden and it's supposed to be fun" Brittany says while getting off the bed.

"I want to try and understand what's going on. We need to talk Brittany, I need to know why you don't eat anymore" I say worriedly.

"I do eat Santana" Brittany snaps. "Don't make it out as if I never eat anything because that's not true. I eat all of my main meals, it's just sometimes I'm really busy so I work it off a lot quicker."

"You're lying to me honey. I know and you know that you have stopped eating" I state. "I'm here for you so please let me understand."

"Why don't you believe what I'm saying?" Brittany asks annoyed while walking out of the room causing me to quickly follow her.

"Because it's all adding up now and I can see there's more to this issue than _just being busy_ " I tell her.

It's all just came to me but now I've realised a few things. I'm never actually there when she eats breakfast even though I make it before I leave and obviously I'm never there at lunch either. I also haven't seen her snacking at all in a good while plus now I think about it, I don't actually know the last time I cleared the dinner plates. We eat together but because I've been working all day Brittany lets me bath Aiden because I haven't see him so we get to spend quality time together while Brittany clears up. I hate to say it but she could easily put her food in the trash when I'm upstairs with Aiden instead of eating it. There's also the fact she goes to the gym for hours at the weekend. Every Saturday and Sunday morning she goes while I watch Aiden and she isn't gone just for an hour, it's a lot longer each day.

"Why are you doing this Santana, we have finally got the place to ourselves while your parents have Aiden and you want to start an argument?" Brittany sighs while sitting down on the couch in the living room.

"I'm worried about you, that's why" I say sitting next to her. "Believe me I would rather be upstairs with you right now but I can't let this go."

"I don't know what you want me to say Santana" Brittany shrugs.

"I want you to open up to me. Tell me why you're doing this" I say.

"Look I'm not doing anything on purpose, sometimes I just don't have time for a big meal because I'm busy with writing essays or looking after Aiden but there's nothing to worry about. I still eat, I can assure you" Brittany says.

"Honey you need to eat properly though, especially when you have essays to write and when you're breastfeeding. You need energy to think properly when you're studying and you need good nutrition to breastfeed Aiden" I say.

"You're making a big deal out of this Santana and it's not even that bad" Brittany sighs.

"I just worry about you" I tell her.

"You don't need to, I'm fine" Brittany states.

"Look maybe I'm not the best person to give advice but if you ever do struggle there's lots of people to talk to" I say.

"I don't need to talk to anyone, trust me" Brittany replies.

"I don't want to argue anymore but I do think you should talk to someone about this. You might not see this as an issue right now but it is honey" I say. "You don't need to talk to me but I think you should at least talk to someone else."

"Why, there's nothing to talk about" Brittany says.

"Ok, fine" I shrug. Brittany clearly doesn't want to talk about it so I'm going to let it go for just now but if it continues I'm going to have to say something again.

After sitting in silence for what felt like hours, Brittany shuffles closer to me and puts her arms around me. I relax into her and she kisses my head.

"I don't want to argue either, I just want a night alone with my smoking hot wife" Brittany smiles.

"I want that too" I smile back.

"Come on, let's go back upstairs" she says squeezing me tightly before releasing her hold and standing up. "You coming?" she asks while holding out her hand.

"Not yet but I will be very soon" I smirk.


	22. Trying to get better

Chapter 22: Trying to get better

Santana's POV

Sunday 1st March 2020

I'm lying awake in bed but I don't want to get up right now because Brittany looks so peaceful sleeping so I don't want to disturb her. I can't help the smile that's plastered across my face because spending time with Britt last night was amazing. We love Aiden so much but it's also nice to have time just the two of us and do grownup things. Last night was also the first time we had sex in what felt like forever so that certainly brightened up my night.

I lie peacefully for a few more minutes until I feel movement beside me meaning Brittany is beginning to wake up.

"Hi" I smile.

"Morning" Brittany smiles while turning to face me. "You look so sexy this morning" she says leaning in to kiss me.

"You're not bad yourself" I wink.

"Thanks" Brittany blushes.

"So last night was amazing, wasn't it?" I smile brightly.

"Uh…yeah" Brittany says hesitantly.

"You don't seem too sure about it" I tease. Even though we did have sex last night, it didn't last as long as I'd hoped for because after the first time Brittany fell asleep on me.

"No…no it was good" Brittany smiles.

"How good?" I tease.

"Really good" Brittany replies.

"Did you like my new moves?" I ask.

"Sure" Brittany nods.

"Britt, honey. Come on" I laugh.

"I did like them" she replies.

"Come on, cut it out babe" I say laughing. "Just admit you don't remember a thing about last night" I smirk.

"No I do, we had sex and it felt great" Brittany says sitting up on the bed.

"How many times did we do it?" I smirk again.

"Uh…that many that I lost count" Brittany smiles.

"No baby" I smile while shaking my head.

"I'm sorry ok" Brittany sighs. "I remember us having sex and it was great. Then you wanted to try something new so you straddled me and began kissing down my body and then I don't know what happened, I've drew a blank for some reason."

"You've drew a blank because nothing else happened" I laugh again.

"Wait, why did we stop again? Didn't you want to do it a second time?" Brittany asks confused.

"Oh no, I was all up for it" I smile, "it was you that wasn't."

"I wasn't?" Brittany says confused again. "But you were so hot and sexy and everything last night so why wouldn't I want to keep going."

"Ok you maybe did want to but I wasn't going to continue with you like that" I state.

"Like what" Brittany frowns at me.

"Asleep baby. I wasn't going to start taking advantage of you when you were lying sleeping" I smirk.

"Oh my god, that is so embarrassing. I am so sorry" Brittany says covering her face in embarrassment.

"It's fine, I bore you" I tease while shrugging my shoulders.

"No that's not it, I promise you" Brittany assures me. "There's no way you're boring in bed, I can tell you that much."

"I'm just messing honey, I understand why you were so tired yesterday. You had been up since 5am with Aiden" I smile.

"I am so sorry though, falling asleep during sex is so embarrassing. I bet you didn't feel good about it" Brittany says.

"Well the hard-on I had didn't exactly go away on it's own but honestly I didn't mind" I say honestly.

"I promise to make it up to you babe, name what you want and I'll do it" Brittany smiles while leaning over to kiss me.

"You don't need to do that" I assure her.

"Come on, I want to. It can be anything at all babe, just name it" she says while moving to straddle my lap.

"Honestly I don't want anything babe, I'm fine" I smile while leaning up to kiss her.

"Nothing at all?" Brittany asks.

"Well I guess there is one thing I want" I say after taking a pause to think.

"Tell me babe" Brittany says excitedly.

"I want a threesome" I smirk.

"Like hell that's going to happen, no one is having sex with my wife" Brittany states.

"It wouldn't just be with me, it'd be with you too" I smile. "You'd be involved in the threesome, I didn't mean I wanted another two people, just one along with you."

"Nope it's unacceptable" Brittany states firmly. "Plus do you really want someone else having sex with me, don't you like being the only person that gets to see this" she says while gesturing up and down her body.

"I guess you have a point" I muse.

"I do so next idea, what is it?" she asks.

"You really don't need to make it up to me. As long as I have you I am happy and I do so it's cool" I assure her.

"Ok fine, whatever you want" Brittany smiles before leaning down to kiss me.

"The threesome was a joke by the way, in case you didn't notice" I smile.

"I kinda figured that" Brittany smiles. "So uh…I'm just curious, how did you eventually get rid of your hard-on?" she asks as she moves to sit next to me again.

"I just ended up taking a quick shower" I shrug.

"You should have just woke me up and I'd have helped you" Brittany says.

"You looked so peaceful just lying there, I didn't have the heart to wake you up" I smile before placing a quick kiss to her lips.

"I'm going to make it up to you right now, how does that sound?" Brittany smirks.

"Pretty good actually" I smile.

"I give you permission to do anything you want to me" Brittany says while shuffling down the bed so she's lying down.

"Uh…" I say laughing, unsure of what to do since she caught me off guard.

"Or would you rather I did something to you because that can be arranged, whatever you want me to do right now I'll do" Brittany smiles.

"I just want you" I smile, "call me boring but I just want you right now."

"That's cool with me" Brittany smiles back before reaching over to pull me closer to her. I move so I'm hovering over her. "Kiss me" she whispers.

"I will" I whisper back while leaning down to kiss her.

XXX

"Come on, let's go downstairs and I'll make us some breakfast and then we can shower" I suggest.

"Do we get to shower together or…?" she smirks.

"We'll see, let's just wait and see the time once we've eaten" I say.

"Ok" Brittany nods.

Once we made it downstairs, I decided to make us some pancakes. We sat together and ate them before I went upstairs to shower. As much as Brittany wanted to join me, she decided that she'd take the opportunity of the quiet time to read over an essay she wrote for college and make a few changes.

"Hey how are you getting on?" I ask as I make my way into the study where Brittany is.

"Ok I guess but I'm not looking forward to proofreading it, I hate that part" she sighs.

"Have you finished writing it all?" I ask.

"Yeah" she replies.

"Ok well why don't you go upstairs to shower and I can proofread it for you?" I suggest.

"You don't need to do that babe but thank you" she smiles.

"Honestly I want to help" I smile. "As soon as you come back downstairs, it'll be ready to submit."

"Ok, thank you" she replies before quickly kissing me. "I'll see you soon" she smiles again and walks upstairs to shower.

Once I read over her essay, I go to the living room and watch some TV. It's about half an hour later when Brittany walks into the room.

"Hey baby, you look a little lonely sitting there. Do you want some company?" she asks.

"Sure" I smile at her while shifting slightly on the couch so Brittany can sit next to me. "I was just watching some reality show but we can change it over if…uh ok" I smile as Brittany straddles my lap.

"I don't want to watch TV" she smiles.

"Yeah me neither anymore" I shake my head while picking up the remote and turning the TV off.

"Can I just ask a question, were you born this sexy or did you do something to make yourself like that because if you did then I want to know your secret" Brittany smiles.

"I guess I just have good genetics and it helps when you have someone telling you all the time how sexy you are because it makes you more confident" I smile back. "You bring that sexiness out in me babe."

"I'm glad I can help" she smiles again before leaning down to kiss me. "I've submitted my essay so I've got some free time now before Aiden gets back, what do you say we do something fun?"

"I'd like that" I smirk.

"Good" she smirks back before quickly lifting her t-shirt off and throwing it to the floor. "We certainly don't need yours either anymore" she says while removing my shirt.

"I don't really want my pants either to be honest" I smirk while placing my hands on her waist.

"I will get to those in a second, don't you worry" Brittany says while leaning in to kiss my neck. As she does that she begins unbuttoning my pants and pulling the zip down. "Lie down" she whispers in my ear while getting off my lap. I quickly move so I'm lying down on the couch. She then straddles me again and leans down to kiss me. Just as we begin making out, she moves slightly and slowly slides her hand past the waistband of my jeans.

"Uh…" I moan as Brittany cups my crotch.

"Hello, it's us" I hear my mom shout. Brittany and I must freeze in surprise because the next thing I know neither of us have moved and my mom waltzes into the room. "Oh dear god" she shrieks, "Mario take Aiden back to the hall please" she says pushing my dad back out of the room with Aiden.

"Mom, what the hell?" I say annoyed while rolling my eyes. "What are you doing here?" I ask while sitting up and covering myself with a cushion. Brittany quickly gets off my lap.

"You said lunchtime to bring Aiden back and it's twelve o'clock" my mom replies.

"Our lunchtime is 1pm mom" I state.

"How did we know that, we're not mind readers" my mom replies.

"Uh…Santana" Brittany says nudging me, "I'm kinda half naked here so can you maybe get her to leave while I put my shirt on" she whispers.

"Mom do you mind leaving the room for a second until we're decent" I state while hugging the cushion tighter.

"Oh Santana I gave birth to you honey, it's nothing I haven't seen before" my mom smiles.

"Yeah but you didn't give birth to a fully grown woman or Brittany for that matter so get out of here please" I glare.

"Alright, settle down" my mom laughs while leaving the room.

"I've never been so embarrassed in all my life before" Brittany says mortified while putting her shirt back on.

"I know" I nod in agreement. "Anyway, shall I let them come back in again?" I ask.

"Yeah I'm all dressed again" Brittany smiles.

"You can come back in here now" I say shouting through to the hall. Two seconds later they walk into the room with Aiden.

"Hey did you miss us?" Brittany smiles at Aiden while taking him from my mom.

"Of course he did, we're the best parents ever" I say kissing his head once Brittany sits down next to me with him.

"Do you know you look different Santana" my dad frowns as he and my mom take a seat.

"Yeah she does, doesn't she?" my mom nods.

"How do I?" I ask confused.

"Oh I've got it" my dad smiles, "there's no blonde haired girl sitting on you anymore."

"Oh hah-hah, very funny dad" I say rolling my eyes.

"Look we didn't expect you both so soon with Aiden, that's all" Brittany states embarrassed.

"You should really learn to knock though mom" I state.

"Why would I want to knock when I have a key" my mom smiles.

"Mom that key was for emergencies not just so you could come as you please" I shake my head.

"Well technically this was an emergency because if we hadn't of came in when we did then I'm pretty sure I'd be getting another grandchild in around 9 months" my mom smirks.

"Mom for goodness sake" I roll my eyes at her. "Look having sex isn't just for the purpose of having children you know."

"Baby, let's not go there" Brittany says embarrassed. "It's enough they caught us so let's not detail why we were going to do that."

"Ok sorry, I was just…"

"Hi, is anyone home?" Karen shouts interrupting me while walking through the front door.

"No mom, no one is home" Brittany rolls her eyes, "we leave the door open for strangers to come in and take what they want."

"There's no need for that Brittany, I was just trying to be polite" Karen says walking into the room.

"Sorry" Brittany apologises.

"Oh Maribel, Mario, hi" Karen smiles. "How are you both?"

"We're good, how are you and James?" my mom asks.

"Yeah we're doing ok. I was actually just saying to James the other night that we haven't seen you both in a while and that we should all go out for dinner sometime" Karen smiles.

"Yeah, that'd be nice" my mom smiles back.

"Speaking of dad, where is he?" Brittany asks.

"Getting a few things from the car but he won't be a minute" Karen replies while going over to us to kiss Aiden.

"Do you want to sit with him mom?" Brittany asks and Karen nods so she hands Aiden to Karen.

"So what's been happening today, is my grandson doing ok?" Karen asks as she takes a seat with Aiden on her lap.

"Yeah Aiden…" I can't even finish my sentence from my mom.

"He stayed with us last night which was lovely but the poor wee thing came home to an awful scene today" my mom shakes her head, I just roll my eyes at her.

"Oh what happened?" Karen asks in concern.

"We walked in on these two naked on the couch" my mom replies.

"James and I did that once, it wasn't exactly an ideal moment" Karen laughs.

"Ok let me stop you all there, we were not naked; we were shirtless that's it" I state.

"Who was shirtless?" Brittany's dad asks while walking into the room carrying a few bags.

"Santana and me" Brittany sighs.

"What a minute ago?" James frowns.

"A little longer than a minute but yeah basically. It was when Maribel and Mario came home with Aiden" Brittany states.

"Yes but in our defence, Maribel and Mario were an hour early so we weren't expecting them" I say glaring over at my parents.

"Firstly, when did we lose the mom and dad titles and secondly, we didn't know lunchtime meant 1pm and not 12pm" my mom replies.

"There's obviously just been a bit of a mix up so let's just forget about it because Aiden is home now" Brittany says. "Dad why don't you hold Aiden for a little while" she says and he nods before taking Aiden from Karen.

"Hey buddy, are you feeling ok?" James says while bouncing Aiden slightly. "Did your mommies give you a terrible fright today?"

"Dad" Brittany groans. "What did I just say about forgetting things?"

"Sorry, let's talk about something else" James smiles.

"So what is everyone else doing for the rest of the day?" my mom asks.

"We're not sure yet" I reply.

"Yeah we haven't really got plans either" James replies.

"Yeah I mean since I was free I was going to offer to take Aiden for the day and let you study Brittany but I've got a terrible feeling if I did take him, you'll study Santana instead of your books" Karen smirks.

"Not funny mom, can we all let this go now please" Brittany sighs in annoyance. "Yes Santana and I like to have sex, I mean we have Aiden to prove that so let's all be adults and move on."

"I agree, I mean Aiden didn't come via angels in the sky so let's not make this a big thing. You guys caught us in the middle of something and we've apologised" I say.

"Actually I don't think you did apologise" my mom frowns.

"Let's just agree to disagree then mom" I shrug.

XXX

"Wow, what a plateful of food you've gave me" Brittany says looking down at the plate. After our parents left, we played with Aiden for a while before I made dinner.

"I guess I have made a little much tonight, I wasn't really paying attention to how much I was making" I say. I know I shouldn't lie but I knew exactly what I was doing when I plated up dinner. I'm still really worried about Brittany so I've been making bigger portions at dinner to try and get her to eat more. I know it sounds super bad but I don't want to force her to talk if she doesn't want to but if I can at least see she's eating a bit more then I know she's not going to fall down ill.

"It looks really good though" she smiles.

"Thanks" I smile back.

Dinner is spent mostly in silence as we eat and keep an eye on Aiden. Once we're finished eating, Brittany tidies up and I go over to Aiden.

"Ok Aiden, it's time for your milk. Is mommy going to feed you tonight?" I say as I pick him up and place him gently in Brittany's arms.

"Honey I wanted to go to the bathroom first" Brittany replies.

"Sorry" I say while quickly lifting Aiden off her lap.

"I'll be back in two seconds" she smiles before leaving. It doesn't quite register with me what's happening until she's already closed the bathroom door.

"Mommy really did just need the bathroom, right?" I ask Aiden but obviously he doesn't reply. I don't want to doubt Brittany but with everything lately about her weight and now she suddenly wants to go to the bathroom right after saying I gave her quite a plateful of food.

"Come on my handsome boy" Brittany smiles at Aiden while walking into the room and taking him from me.

"I'm just going to use the bathroom" I say while going to exit the room.

"Didn't you just go right before dinner?" Brittany asks confused.

"Yeah I did but you know, too much water" I smile.

"Ok, cool" Brittany shrugs before beginning to feed Aiden.

I don't actually need to use the bathroom again but Brittany worried me a little there. I hate lying to her but I have to see if there are any signs in here. She obviously knows that I know something is going on with her but it never really became clear how she was losing weight. I mean was it just lack of eating or was she perhaps making herself sick.

After checking over the bathroom, nothing really seemed odd. There were some soap bubbles in the sink like there usually is after one of us washes our hands and the spare toothpaste hadn't been touched. I figured she might have brushed her teeth a little if she had been sick so maybe she really did just need the toilet. I really hate analysing all this but if she won't talk to me then how do I know she's getting better.

"Hey you ok?" she smiles over at me as I walk back into the kitchen.

"Yeah I'm fine" I smile before going over to kiss her.

"What was that for?" she asks.

"No reason" I shrug, "I just wanted to kiss you."

"Well when Aiden goes to bed, feel free to do it again as much as you want" she smirks.

"I might just do that" I smile.

* * *

Brittany's POV

Saturday 7th March 2020

I'm meeting some of my friends from college today and they've been dying to meet Aiden so I'm taking him with me and that way Santana can have some time to herself.

"So what are you going to get up to?" I ask Santana as we get Aiden ready for the day.

"I think I want a bath" Santana replies. "It's been a while since I had one because I'm always rushing around so I just shower but I think I'm going to light some candles and just relax."

"Sounds nice, almost too nice" I mutter. "I don't want to go out now, I want to stay with you and share a bath" I smile.

"But your friends are really desperate to see Aiden though" she points out.

"I suppose" I nod.

"Hey I can finish getting Aiden ready if you want to get organised" Santana says.

"Ok, thanks" I smile while beginning to get myself ready. As soon as Aiden and I are both ready the three of us head downstairs.

"I'll help you to the car" Santana says while taking some of Aiden's things to the car.

"Thanks babe" I reply while putting Aiden into the car.

"Well have a nice time" Santana smiles while walking around the car and kissing me.

"I'll try" I smile back.

"And you little man, be good for mommy ok?" she says kissing Aiden on the head.

"I'm sure he will be" I smile down at him. "Anyway, I'll see you later."

"Bye Britt" Santana waves before going back into the house.

I'm slightly later than my friends arriving because when I walk through the door, they are all sitting at a table waiting for me. Aiden hadn't long been fed so I didn't want to drive too fast and then make him sick so I expected to be a little later than everyone.

"Hey guys" I smile while walking over to them with Aiden.

"This must be Aiden" Jessica smiles down at him.

"Yep, this is my little boy" I say while lovingly smiling down at him.

"Oh my god, he is so cute" Melissa says smiling down at him.

"He looks so much like Santana" Jessica points out.

"Yeah but with slightly lighter hair" Melissa nods in agreement.

"You don't think he looks as good as me?" I tease.

"Well yeah he looks good but I wouldn't say he looks just like you, more Santana" Jessica says.

"Um…careful Jess, my doctor has cleared me for ass kicking so you better not be getting the hots for my wife. She's mine and all mine" I joke.

"Don't worry, I don't fancy your wife" Jessica laughs.

"And why the hell not, she's as sexy as hell" I say pretending to be offended.

"Do you know what, I just can't win with you" Jessica laughs again.

"I'm only messing anyway" I smile. "So what's going on?"

"Not a lot actually but why don't we order something and then we'll fill you in on everything because I'm starving" Melissa suggests.

"Yeah that's cool" I smile.

As soon as a waiter comes to our table, we order. I don't really order much because I don't want to eat something and then feel sick especially when I have Aiden with me so I don't want to be running to the bathroom all the time.

I know Santana thinks I'm doing it on purpose but I'm actually not. For some reason, I just can't keep food down. Mostly everything I eat, I just end up throwing up again but I swear I'm not making myself sick. I know it sounds bad but I wish I was doing it on purpose because then I'd know what's wrong with me but it's like my body just doesn't want to digest the food. I thought it was maybe just stress but I don't know what I have to feel stressed about because my parents and Santana's parents have been helping a lot with Aiden so I've had plenty of time to work on my college stuff.

"So when are you coming back to college?" Melissa asks.

"Monday actually I'll be back on campus" I smile. "I mean I've been in occasionally to sit exams and stuff but this is going to be me back fulltime."

"So what happens with Aiden, is Santana going to stay at home now?" Jessica asks.

"No he's actually going to get looked after by one of Santana's friends. She met her through work and she works in childcare so the days I'm at college, Santana will drop him off before her work" I reply.

"Oh that's ok then" Jessica nods.

"I mean it wasn't my intention to leave him so soon with someone else but Gillian is really good with kids and it's only a few days a week. Plus my parents went back to work really early after they had me so I don't feel as bad. I mean I do still feel slightly guilty but a lot of moms go back to work early these days" I say.

"No I don't think you need to feel bad about it because like you say, it's only the days you're at college which is probably 3 at most since we're in our last year so a lot of it is personal study and things you can do at home" Melissa says.

"That what Santana said" I nod.

XXX

"Did you have fun with your friends and Aiden?" Santana asks as she sit down on the couch next to me. She was busy upstairs when I got home so I managed to get Aiden settled before she came down.

"Yeah it was good and they all really loved Aiden which was sweet" I smile.

"That's nice" Santana smiles. "Speaking of Aiden, where is he?"

"I put him down for a nap in the other room" I reply.

"Darn it, I want to see him" she sighs. "I was really bored without him today, Saturdays are usually our fun days together. I mean you're usually studying so Aiden and I get to hang out just the two of us and have fun."

"Are you saying you don't have fun with me around?" I tease.

"Of course not" she smirks.

"You totally are, aren't you?" I say while playfully hitting her.

"Not exactly but I do like the one on one time I get with him" she smiles.

"Yeah I know what you mean" I nod.

"I also like the one on one time we get together" she smiles while putting her arm around me.

"I like it too even though it doesn't happen as frequently" I say while leaning into her.

"Yeah" she nods in agreement.

"Baby can I talk to you about something?" I ask after a few minutes of silence.

"Of course you can" she smiles.

"You know how I haven't been breastfeeding Aiden as much anymore, well I think I want to stop completely now" I say honestly while moving slightly so I can see her.

"Oh" she says surprised.

"Do you think that's a bad idea?" I ask feeling guilty.

"No, not at all" she says while reassuringly squeezing my hand.

"Then why do you look so surprised?" I ask.

"Sorry I just thought it was something else you wanted to talk about, that's all" she shrugs.

"Oh you mean…like my…uh never mind" I shake my head. "It was Aiden I wanted to talk about."

"Well I mean it is usually a personal choice and if you want to stop then I'm ok with that" she smiles.

"I just feel like with the stuff that's going on with me and how busy we are then maybe it's easier for everyone including Aiden to be bottle fed" I say. "I mean I know he can still be bottle fed breastmilk but I mean using formula."

"I know that and I understand babe" she smiles again.

"So you don't think I'm failing as a mom if I do this?" I ask sadly.

"Are you kidding me, of course not" she shakes her head while moving closer to me and putting her arm around me. "I trust you babe so if you think this is best for you and Aiden then I do to."

"I feel like when I'm studying right now I'm getting headaches and it's physically making me sick but I can't take any painkillers because I'm breastfeeding so I'm studying in pain" I sigh.

"If it's making you ill then I want you to stop" she tells me. "A lot of moms have problems so it's a common thing to stop breastfeeding after a few weeks and you did do it for 7."

"Ok" I nod.

"It's all well and good saying breastmilk is better for a baby but what about those moms who actually can't breastfeed. Does that mean their baby won't be as healthy, no it doesn't" Santana points out. "Everyone is different and Aiden seems to be ok so I don't see why this should affect him."

"So you're ok with it then?" I ask to clarify.

"Of course" she smiles before leaning in to kiss me.

* * *

Santana's POV

Friday 20th March 2020

I'm just typing up some notes at work when my receptionist buzzes in to tell me I have a delivery waiting. I quickly finish what I'm doing and go to the reception to collect my package. When I get there though, I notice it's not a package but a bunch of my favourite flowers. I quickly open the card and read what it says inside.

 _Have a nice day at work._

 _Britt xx_

I'm not sure if Brittany will be on a break or not yet but I quickly type out a text anyway to thank her.

 _To Brittany: thanks for the flowers, I love them x_

 _From Brittany: you're welcome. Are you having fun at work x_

 _To Brittany: not really, I miss you and Aiden x_

 _From Brittany: I miss you both too x_

 _To Brittany: are you in class just now or are you on a break?_

 _From Brittany: I'm in a lecture right now but I can't focus. As soon as I saw you text me, I figured I might as well just text back_

 _To Brittany: I can't really focus either today_

 _From Brittany: I can't stop thinking about you. It's exciting me to get home to you but also incredibly distracting. We're supposed to be learning about a specific exercise after hip operations but all I can think of is straddling your hips_

 _To Brittany: oh really ; )_

 _From Brittany: yeah so I probably should stop texting you as much as I don't want to_

 _To Brittany: yeah I should actually get back to work anyway_

 _From Brittany: I'll text you when I leave because you'll probably be home before me_

 _To Brittany: ok talk to you later_

As soon as we stop texting, I get back to work. I only get a chance to do a few things before I'm interrupted again.

"Oh nice flowers, who are those from?" Artie smiles while walking into my office.

"My wife" I smile back. "They're beautiful aren't they?"

"I guess if you're into flowers, I mean they're not really my thing" Artie shrugs.

"Well I love flowers and Britt knows that too so it's all the more sweet" I say. "Anyway you came to talk to me about something right?"

"I did" Artie nods. "I have a bit of a tricky case going on and I wanted your advice on it."

"Ok well tell me about it and I'll see if I can help" I say while taking a seat at my desk while Artie takes a seat across from me. He begins to tell me all about his case and I give him the best advice I can give.

"So you just think I should go with my gut on this one?" he asks.

"I do" I nod. "You're a great lawyer Artie so do whatever you think is best. I mean I have a son now and it makes you all the more aware of the things children can get caught up in and it's not nice so do whatever is best for the child."

"I mean I would always put a child first but this is going to impact the woman as well so depending on how you look at it then maybe what's best for the child is making sure the mother is ok" Artie says.

"Yeah I know but like I say, do what you feel is right not what other people think" I tell him.

"Ok thank you" he says taking a deep breath.

"You're welcome" I smile. "So apart from that case, have you got many others?" I ask.

"I mean I wouldn't say I have a heavy workload right now but I'm kept busy" he replies.

"Yeah me too" I nod.

"Are you feeling you're coping ok while raising Aiden too?" he asks.

"Yeah I think we're doing ok" I nod.

"That's good" Artie replies just as my phone starts ringing.

"Sorry" I apologise while picking it up.

"It's ok" he smiles.

"Huh…no idea who's number that is. Excuse me Artie I better take this in case it's important" I say.

"That's cool, I'm heading off now anyway so I'll talk to you tomorrow. Have a nice night" Artie smiles and then leaves. I then answer my phone.

"Hello" I answer.

"Is that Mrs Santana Lopez?" the voice replies.

"That's me" I reply confused.

"I'm calling regarding Brittany Lopez" the person says.

"That's my wife, what's going on?" I ask getting even more confused.

"She's been admitted to hospital after collapsing at university" they reply.

"Oh my god, I'm coming right now…" I say while quickly hanging up. I didn't even ask which hospital but there's one really close to Brittany's college so I'm just going to go there. I don't have time to call back right now.


	23. I need help

Chapter 23: I need help

Santana's POV

Friday 20th March 2020

The minute I arrive at the hospital I quickly park up and run inside. I don't even know if it was legal to park where I did but I did it anyways because I can't wait any longer to see Brittany. As soon as I get inside I rush over to the reception area.

"I'm here for Brittany Lopez, I got a call that she was brought in" I say out of breath.

"She's right down the hall, last door on the left" the receptionist replies.

"Ok thank you" I say just about to run to Brittany's room.

"Hold on a second, they were doing tests though so you might not be allowed in right now" the receptionist points out.

"It's fine, I'll wait outside then" I say before quickly taking off down the corridor. Just as I'm about to go into the room a doctor opens the door and walks out.

"Can I help you?" the doctor asks.

"I was told my wife was in here, Brittany Lopez" I reply.

"Oh right well she is but we're just finishing up some tests. If you wait here and as soon as we're done I'll let you in" the doctor says.

"Ok" I nod. "She is ok though, right?"

"We'll talk more as soon as I've finished up with the tests but try not to worry" the doctor smiles before walking away.

"Um…ok" I say hesitantly. The doctor hasn't reassured me in the least by saying that. If she was ok then why couldn't he just say she's stable but no, he has to avoid giving me a straight answer?

When the doctor comes back, he doesn't really acknowledge me, he just walks back into Brittany's room. Things are really unsettling me just now, I mean I know it's their job to carry out tests to see what's wrong but they could at least reassure me a bit. When he finally leaves the room a second time, he comes over to me.

"Mrs Lopez" the doctor says.

"Yeah" I nod while standing up.

"You can see Brittany now but we'll be back soon to check on her" he smiles and walks away again. I don't waste any more time, I just hurriedly walk straight into the room.

"What happened, what's going on babe?" I ask rushing over to her.

"I basically collapsed right in front of my friends at lunch and the next thing I know is that I'm here and a bunch of doctors are crowding around me. Apparently I am really dehydrated and have super low blood sugar" Brittany sighs.

"Oh babe" I say hugging her. "Does your mom know?"

"I don't think so, you're my next of kin so I guess they just called you" Brittany shrugs.

"Shall I call your parents?" I ask.

"I don't want to worry them. They have Aiden right now so I don't want to panic them" Brittany says.

"Ok" I nod. "So what happens now?"

"They're going to put me on an IV infusion to give me some fluids and correct my electrolyte imbalance" she tells me. "Hopefully though I can leave either tonight or tomorrow morning as long as they don't start asking loads of questions."

"They'll want to know why it happened though" I point out.

"They know enough since they've already started putting me on a drip and stuff so I doubt they'll need to ask me anything else, it's just whether they will because they're nosy" she shrugs.

"You're going to hate me babe for saying this but you have to stop being so nonchalant about everything and talk to people here. This is your chance to nip this thing in the bud" I state.

"There is no thing Santana" she shakes her head in frustration.

"You're lighter than a frigging feather Brittany and you don't eat so yes there is a thing" I sigh.

"Can you go home please?" Brittany asks while looking away from me.

"Oh no, you don't get to throw me out right now. I'm your wife Brittany and I need to know what the hell is going on whether you like it or not" I state.

"I don't want or need an argument right now Santana so please leave me alone" she says as a few tears begin running down her cheeks.

"Oh honey" I shake my head while moving to sit on the edge of the bed to hug her again.

"You don't need to comfort me Santana because I know you're mad at me" she says while trying to wipe the tears away with her arm.

"I'm not mad at you, I'm frustrated at this situation we're in. I just really want to help you but nothing I do seems to help" I say kissing the top of her head.

"It's humiliating enough right now with these doctors and their judging looks when they ask me things so I don't want to have to fight with you as well" she admits.

"That's ok, we don't need to talk about it right now" I assure her. "When you are ready to talk though I do want you to explain things."

"Ok" she nods.

"Listen baby, I just need to quickly run to the bathroom but I'll be back soon" I say while moving from the bed.

"Ok babe" she smiles.

As soon as I get back from the bathroom, I walk into the room and the doctor is hooking Brittany up to a drip. I wait until he's finished before sitting down next to Brittany.

"So is that thing uncomfortable?" I ask nodding to the drip. I've never really been admitted to hospital before for anything so I don't really know if these kind of things hurt.

"Not really" Brittany shakes her head. "I mean I'd rather not be here right now but it doesn't hurt."

"How long do you need to be hooked up to it for?" I ask curiously.

"I think it takes about…"

"Oh thank goodness you're ok" Karen says while rushing into the room and hugging Brittany tightly.

"We were so worried about you sweetheart" James tells her while placing Aiden next to me in his stroller and going over to kiss Brittany's head.

"I'm fine, there's no need to fuss" Brittany sighs.

"Hey do you want to go and see mommy?" I ask Aiden while bouncing him slightly in my arms as I lift him up and walk over to Brittany.

"Santana I've got a drip in one hand so I can't really hold him right now" Brittany states. I'm starting to sense that she's slightly mad right now.

"That's ok, I'll hold him while you kiss him" I smile.

"Hey sweetheart" she smiles at Aiden before leaning forward to kiss him.

"Does mom get a kiss to?" I ask Aiden while leaning forward to kiss him. He gives me a brief smile in response.

"So Santana briefly filled us in on what happened but we want to talk to your doctor anyway so we'll be back soon, ok" James says before he and Karen leave the room.

"Hey so I…"

"Dammit Santana, I told you not to call them" Brittany sighs in annoyance while interrupting me.

"I'm sorry but they're your parents and they had to know. I mean you're in hospital for goodness sake babe, I'm not going to not tell them" I say honestly. If anything ever happened to Aiden then I'd quite like to know so I'm sure her parents would want to know if something happened to her.

"You don't get it though, they work here so they're just going to embarrass me in front of the staff" she points out.

"That should only be a minor problem right now, the main thing is that they're your parents and they need to know that you're ok. Plus don't you feel better with your parents here?" I ask.

"I really didn't need a big fuss right now because it's embarrassing enough already" Brittany sighs.

"You collapsed and needed to go to hospital, I think that's big enough in itself so I'm not going to apologise for calling them" I tell her.

"I asked you not to, that's what's bothering me the most" she replies.

"You're telling me in 20 years' time that if Aiden collapsed, you wouldn't want to know about it and would be happy with his wife keeping it a secret?" I ask.

"Firstly my baby isn't getting married before he's 20 and secondly" she sighs, "yes you have a point" she admits embarrassed.

"Exactly" I smile, teasingly nudging her.

"I'm sorry" Brittany says while squeezing my hand. "My parents just get too much sometimes whenever I'm in hospital but I am glad they're here" she smiles.

"It's ok, I understand" I smile back. "Although I do need to ask, why can't Aid get married before he's 20?" I ask.

"Well maybe he can but right now I can't think of that. He's my little baby so I don't want to let that part go right now" she smiles. "Plus I did marry you at 21 so I can't really comment, can I?"

"Exactly" I smirk.

"Ok so we've spoken to the doctor and he wants you to stay here overnight" James says walking into the room with Karen. "You should definitely get to go home tomorrow though."

"At least you're not here too long then" I say.

"I still wish I could go home tonight" Brittany points out.

XXX

Brittany's parents left to give her time to rest and took Aiden with them so I could stay at the hospital with Brittany. Once she drifted off to sleep, I took the opportunity to finish what I was doing at work. It was only computer stuff so I had my laptop with me. I get about an hour of work done before I hear Brittany wakening up.

"Santana" Brittany whispers.

"Yeah" I smile.

"I…I'm…" Brittany can't get anything else out before she starts crying.

"Britt, what's wrong?" I ask rushing over to her side.

"I'm sorry, you were right" she says through hiccups.

"Right about what honey?" I ask in concern as I hug her tightly.

"Everything" she replies.

"What do you mean?" I ask confused.

"I need help" she cries.

"It's ok, it's ok. I'm here" I say continuing to hug her tightly.

"I have a problem and I don't know how to stop" she says as tears continue to cascade down her cheeks.

"Just take a breath honey and we'll talk in a second, ok?" I say trying to get her to calm down.

Once Brittany does eventually calm down, we talk for a little while about what Brittany wants to do next. She agreed that she wants to see a therapist so I stepped outside and made a few calls because one of my friends from college is actually a therapist. I didn't want Brittany going to someone I knew but my friend said she knew a few people that were really good so I booked an appointment with one of them.

"I wasn't sure if you actually left or not" Brittany says as I walk back into the room.

"Baby I wouldn't leave without telling you" I say while going over to kiss her. "I didn't mean to take so long, we just got to talking that's all."

"That's ok" Brittany replies.

"So I did have to pull a few strings to get this but I managed to get you booked in for a therapy session on Tuesday. Does that work for you?" I ask.

"Yeah" Brittany replies quietly while nodding.

"Ok" I smile.

"Can you…um…like maybe…I don't know, come with me?" Brittany asks hesitantly while looking down in embarrassment.

"Honey of course I will" I smile.

* * *

Brittany's POV

Monday 23rd March 2020

"Is there anything you want to talk about before the session?" Santana asks as we lie in bed together.

"Are you kidding me right now?" I question while sitting up and turning to glare at Santana.

"What?" she shrugs.

"Was this your plan all along to have sex with me to get me in a good mood just so I'd talk to you about how I feel?" I ask.

"Baby that's not…"

"Tell me the truth" I say while jumping out of bed and quickly putting some clothes on.

"Don't get me wrong I did think it might help to open up a little to me before you see the therapist but that's not why I had sex with you. I did it because I love you and Aiden isn't home right now so I thought we could have some fun" she smiles.

"I'm going to call your sister and see when she's bringing Aiden home" I sigh while changing the subject.

"Britt, come on" Santana says while quickly getting out of bed and putting her robe on.

"I feel like you're still not telling me the truth" I shake my head.

"Ok fine" she sighs while walking over to me. "I did want you in a good mood because I wanted you to talk to me a bit before tomorrow but that's not the reason I had sex with you. I bought you your favourite flowers to get you in the good mood, sex was just a welcomed addition to the night."

"Santana you know I'm not good with expressing how I feel sometimes so why are you trying to push it?" I ask.

"Baby I don't mean to, I'm just confused about everything" she admits.

"Honey I want you to come with me tomorrow so can't you just wait until then?" I ask. I mean I'm not entirely sure myself about what's going on with me so I'd hate to say something that might offend Santana. I mean it's certainly nothing Santana has done but I feel a therapist would be able to understand my point better because I'm not great with words.

"Ok, I'm sorry" Santana nods. "Now come here, I want you to kiss me" she smiles while taking my hands in hers.

"Ok" I smile back before giving her a quick peck on the lips. "Right I need to get organised now" I say while breaking out of our hold.

"Brittany wait a minute" Santana frowns, "are you still mad at me?"

"No of course not" I reply.

"Then what's with the quick peck on the lips and the sudden need to do other things now?" she asks.

"Sorry but because I'm taking time out of studying tomorrow to go to this therapy session then I need to make up for it tonight. You and I are good though babe" I smile.

"Oh, ok" Santana nods sadly.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Tuesday 24th March 2020

Santana and I are sitting in the waiting room waiting on my turn to go in and see the therapist. This moment is probably in the top 5 of my most hated moments. I just really don't want to do this because it's embarrassing and I don't want to be judged for the way I am. It's hard enough opening up to myself or my family, never mind some stranger I've never seen before.

"It's ok, don't be nervous" Santana says while taking a hold of my hand.

"How did you know I was nervous?" I ask.

"I can just tell babe" she smiles while squeezing my hand to make me feel better.

"Brittany Lopez, you can now go to room 4" we hear over the intercom so we make our way to room 4. The therapist introduces herself and we sit down.

"So whose idea was it to come today?" the therapist asks.

"I mean I eventually agreed but I know Santana has been wanting me to see someone for a while now so I guess you could say both of ours in the end" I reply.

"Yeah I mean I noticed a change a while ago but I don't think I handled it in the best way so we kind of put it on the back burner" Santana says. "When she collapsed the other day though I think it became apparent to both of us that we need to do something about it."

"Ok so let's talk" the therapist says. "Do you know why you have been skipping meals Brittany?" she asks.

"In the beginning I was just too busy to eat so I'd grab something on the go like a piece of fruit or something whenever I had a spare minute" I reply. "Then as things went on I sort of liked that I was losing the baby weight so I continued and the next thing I know things had spiralled out of control."

"How do you feel now looking back on it?" the therapist asks.

"Weak and ashamed" I reply.

"So do you feel that it was only about food or were there any other reasons as to why you continued not eating?" she asks.

"Well I mean at the time it felt like it was something I could control and I liked that. I mean a lot of other things I was getting stressed over so I felt so overwhelmed but with the eating thing then I knew what I was doing in a way even though I didn't know at the time it wasn't a healthy way to go" I reply.

"So what other things were stressing you out?" the therapist asks.

"Definitely college especially since it's my last year and I want to graduate soon" I say.

"I know you've just had a baby recently so do you feel you're getting support from others when you need to study all the time?" she asks.

"Yeah I guess so" I say hesitantly.

"You don't seem as sure about your answer, do you feel you need more help?" she asks.

"It's not that I need help with my son, I just feel a lot of pressure on me from other people to do well in college so I guess I feel they still don't quite understand how I feel" I admit.

"I know Santana's here right now but I want you to be honest, do you feel Santana gives you that support?" the therapist asks.

"Um…" I look over at Santana nervously.

"Babe if you feel I don't then it's ok, I won't be mad. We're here today to figure out these things" Santana smiles.

"Santana's right" the therapist tells me.

"Yes Santana is super supportive of me but sometimes I feel like she doesn't quite understand my situation. I mean she puts me on this pedestal and it's super sweet but super stressful at the same time" I admit.

"What do you mean?" Santana asks confused.

"You think I'm better than I actually am but every time I try to tell you that you just think I have low confidence in myself" I sigh.

"Oh" Santana says surprised.

"Why don't you explain a little more Brittany about what you mean" the therapist says.

"I'm not book smart, I take a while to understand things so sometimes I'm ok with just getting a B in an essay but if Santana ever got a B that'd be deemed completely unacceptable to her" I say. "Sometimes she says these things and I'm embarrassed because I don't mind that I'm not that smart but to her that would be a failure."

"Brittany I would never think you were a failure" Santana shakes her head.

"I know but sometimes you have a very strong opinion on things and it unsettles me. You asked me last week what I got for an assignment and I told you a B but you kept going on about how it was an A because it was a point or two short so they should have just rounded it up. To me right now I just want to graduate with a decent grade; I don't want to be some genius" I reply. I'm satisfied with getting a B on something that I just couldn't understand. I'd rather pass and focus on the things I do well in than panic over something I know I don't have time to waste on.

"I don't mean to be that way babe" Santana says while leaning over to gently squeeze my hand. "I'm happy with whatever you're happy with so if you think I'm being too much then just let me know" she smiles.

"Um…ok" I smile back. I'm a little surprised by her reaction, I mean I didn't think she would be unreasonable or anything but I didn't expect her to be completely ok with what I said. I never want to upset Santana but I'm really not good with expressing my feelings sometimes so I always worry I'll say the wrong thing and offend her.

"Is there anything else you want to express about your relationship?" the therapist asks. "We've discussed college with regards you and Santana's relationship but what about your personal life?"

"I don't understand what you mean" I say confused.

"How would you evaluate your relationship at the moment?" she asks.

"Apart from my issues getting in the way now and again, everything seems ok. I love Santana and she loves me" I say turning to smile at Santana.

"Is there anything you wish to say that maybe you're too nervous to say when it's just the two of you?" the therapist asks.

"Well…maybe" I admit embarrassed.

"Ok well now is the time to share" the therapist smiles.

"I feel like I'm letting Santana down all the time and I hate that" I sigh. "It's like she has two children because she has Aiden and then she has me giving her problems all the time because I'm too immature to deal with my shit."

"You have to stop blaming yourself Brittany" Santana tells me. "Everyone has problems and life is never perfect so you can't keep expecting our life to be this perfect thing when it's never going to be."

"But you are perfect and I'm not" I shrug.

"Brittany no one is perfect, far from it actually" the therapist points out. "There are a lot of things in life that sometimes we all wish were different but once you get the strength to move past them, you realise that the important things in life are what matters."

"Yeah I agree" Santana nods.

"Does that mean that you sometimes wish certain things were different" I ask looking at Santana. "I mean if you do then you don't really tell me about things."

"Honey, this is about you today not me" Santana says while gently squeezing my hand to reassure me.

"Actually it might help Brittany if you shared a few things too Santana" the therapist says.

"Um…ok" Santana nods nervously. "I guess there are things in my life that I don't like but I don't want Brittany to worry about them so I don't share them all the time" she admits.

"I can understand that but sometimes not sharing makes things worse" the therapist replies.

"Am I one of these worries?" I ask honestly.

"Brittany…" Santana shakes her head.

"I'm being serious babe because I can sense I'm being very selfish right now talking about myself. If it wasn't for my issues then we wouldn't be here and I do get the feeling sometimes that a lot of this stuff happens all because of me" I admit.

"You're not a problem in my life Brittany, I promise you" Santana assures me.

"But I am a worry, right?" I ask.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about you lately" Santana sighs.

"Perhaps you could share with us what worries you the most right now, Santana" the therapist asks.

"Well right now I feel that Brittany is trying to be someone neither of us needs or wants her to be and I don't get that. She knew from the start I wasn't perfect so I don't understand why she has this vision that I am and she needs to be too" she says.

"To me though you are perfect" I smile.

"I just don't agree" Santana admits shaking her head.

"Let's take a step back here, what kind of things do worry you Santana?" the therapist asks.

"Well for starters, I wish I was ten years younger; I wish people understood my condition; I wish people could get over the fact I'm gay; I wish people would stop blaming me for pressuring Brittany into this life…"

"Whoa, stop right there" I state. "What do you mean by that last part?" I ask.

"Well you're 22, you have a 2 month old baby and you're trying to make a career for yourself and it's likely all my fault that you're so stressed right now. I know you say it's just college stressing you out but I do think I'm somewhat to blame as well even if you won't admit it. I mean I wanted this life before you did and I pressured you into it and now look what's happening. We're pretending life is just great when it's not" Santana sighs.

"Not once did you pressure me into this, I can assure you of that" I state.

"We both know I wanted marriage and kids before you did" Santana says.

"That's true but those things didn't happen until I was ready. We got married when I wanted to and we started a family when I wanted to. Yes you were ready first but you waited until I was ready so don't ever think you made me do this because you didn't" I say genuinely while leaning over to put my arm around her.

XXX

"Let's go back a bit again. You've said yourself Santana that you see a physical change in Brittany, how does that make you feel?" the therapist asks.

"I love Brittany no matter what she looks like but I don't like it when she changes for all the wrong reasons" Santana replies. "I get that her body changed initially after Aiden and I understand why she might want to change, I mean I didn't think she needed to but I understood, but I don't like it when it puts her health in jeopardy."

"That's a fair point" the therapist nods.

"No matter what happens though, I'm always going to love her" Santana smiles.

"Ok so Brittany, I understand the pressure you were under but do you think there's a possibility that you also did this to seem more attractive to Santana?" the therapist asks.

"I think that's a big possibility, yes" I nod. Truth be told, the not eating thing wasn't just about being in control of something, it was about trying to look different.

"What makes you think you're not attractive to Santana?" the therapist asks.

"Most girls my age are still out getting drunk and doing what they want. I mean don't get me wrong, I like being a mom and a wife and I don't wish I was like them, I'm just scared Santana does" I say honestly.

"Honey I don't wish that" she says while reassuringly squeezing my hand.

"Most girls that are 22 have perfect bodies and look hot" I say, "and this isn't just because I've had a baby. I've always just felt slightly intimidated by the way Santana looks. She's 30 and still has a killer body whereas I'm not even that hot looking and I'm still in my early 20s."

"We all come in different shapes and sizes but that doesn't mean we need to think a particular physique is hotter than another. We all like different things so you just have to embrace what you have" the therapist replies.

"That's easier said than done. I mean I've seen Santana's exes and none of them look like me so it just worries me that I'm not really what she wants" I admit embarrassed.

"How do you feel about that Santana?" the therapist says while looking at Santana.

"I understand where she is coming from but I don't actually have a type. It just turns out that my most serious relationships seemed to be with brunettes" Santana shrugs. "I mean I can't say I was never attracted to them because I did obviously date them but none of them ever made me feel the way Brittany makes me feel."

"Is this making you feel any better Brittany?" the therapist asks.

"Maybe a little but it's not all about the exes though" I point out.

"Ok so what?" the therapist replies.

"Sometimes I catch Santana looking at someone and I can't help but think maybe she'd rather be with someone like them than with me" I sigh. It's not like I don't want her to look at anyone but sometimes I just get this really uncomfortable feeling inside.

"Whoa ok, let's just take a step back" Santana shakes her head. "I understand most of what's going on and I want to help you but I never look at other women. That is one thing I most certainly do not do" she says slightly offended.

"This is what I was afraid of" I sigh. "I knew something I said today was going to irritate you Santana."

"Honey, like I say I've understood a lot of this already but what you just said really has touched a nerve. It's ok to feel insecure or worried about something but you know my policy with cheating. My ex-wife cheated on me so under no circumstances do I think it's ok" Santana states.

"I didn't say you would cheat, what I mean is sometimes I wonder if maybe you wonder what it would be like if you were with someone else" I reply.

"That is cheating to me Brittany" she shakes her head. "It's certainly not as bad as physically cheating but in my book it's still not right."

"Let's just calm down for a second and talk this through" the therapist says weighing in. "Could you try and give us an example of when Santana might do this."

"Ok well last month we were in a café and this, large chested woman shall we say, sat down at a table near us and I caught Santana staring at her for a decent amount of time" I reply. "I didn't want to question it at the time though because I was afraid I wouldn't like the answer and end up getting upset. Aiden was only a few weeks old at the time so my hormones were still all over the place so I didn't want to get upset in public and cause a scene."

"I'm not being rude but I have no recollection of this" Santana says confused.

"Last month, and I should have said I was talking about the café where I work and it was the first time my colleagues were seeing Aiden. We just got sat down when the woman and her friend also sat down and I caught you staring. You had Aiden in your arms and your mouth literally fell open" I state.

"Oh…um…ok" Santana says embarrassed while taking a deep breath to continue. "I remember now and I admit I was staring but I promise you it wasn't at the woman."

"Then what?" I ask.

"The uh…um…I was staring at the piece of chocolate cake she had, ok" Santana says embarrassed. "It looked really good but I had already eaten something else so I didn't want to be greedy."

"Wait…seriously?" I ask beginning to feel really bad.

"I promise you" she nods.

"Ok so what about when we went on vacation the last time" I say. "We were by the pool and you kept looking at that topless brunette. I had to literally click my fingers at you to get you to answer me because sometimes I would say something and you didn't even know I was talking because you were preoccupied."

"The bitch stole our spot. We had been sitting in that exact spot by the pool for 4 days straight and that bitch swooped in and took it one day so I was glaring at her" Santana replies. "I kept looking over because the minute she left the space unattended I was going to go over and reclaim our spot."

"Oh" I say surprised. I literally feel like such a bitch right now. Of course Santana isn't going to look at anyone else, she's the sweetest person I know and here I am questioning everything.

"Brittany? Brittany?" Santana says while leaning forward to get my attention.

"Sorry" I shake my head.

"Where did you just go there?" the therapist asks.

"I was just thinking about how stupid I was to question Santana. I know she would never do that sort of thing but yet this is how I feel right now" I admit. "It's maybe not so much an attraction to another woman, maybe it's just the thought of actually having a partner that is there that I'm worried Santana wants."

"What do you mean by that?" the therapist asks.

"I just feel that maybe Santana will eventually want someone else because I'm too busy all the time. If I'm not at college, I'm at home studying and if I'm not doing that I'm looking after Aiden. Also I do plan on going back to work at some point so I'm scared she'd rather be with someone who has more time" I admit.

"I'm not going to lie, I don't like it that we don't get very much time together but it most certainly doesn't mean I want to be with someone else. Eventually all this studying will be over and we'll just be two regular parents who work and raise a child" she says.

"But what about right now, don't you want someone who has more time to spend with you?" I ask.

"I just want you Brittany" Santana sighs and I can tell she's getting frustrated with me. "Why won't you believe me?"

"I just don't understand how you can put up with me" I say honestly. "Every time something happens it's always me in the middle of it. You never give me any shit whereas all I do is constantly make you worry."

"Can I just weigh in here?" the therapist says and I nod. "I just want to ask you something. Do you ever feel you can be too hard on yourself?"

"I guess I hadn't really thought about it" I shrug.

"Ok well maybe you could think about it for next time because we're almost out of time this session" the therapist replies.

"Ok" I nod.

"It's obvious you love one another very much but you still have a few things individually that we need to work on Brittany" the therapist says.

"Yeah I figured" I sigh.

"You are more than welcome to bring Santana along though but the next session should probably be about you and how we can help you get through this" the therapist replies.

"Yeah I mean I'm more than happy to come with you" Santana smiles.

"Yeah I'd really like that" I nod.

As soon as we finish up with the therapist, we head outside to Santana's car.

"Hey, come here" Santana smiles while holding her hand out to me. I walk over to her and intertwine my fingers with hers. "I'm really proud of you babe. It takes a lot to open up to people especially if you barely know them."

"I'm sorry if I offended you at all in there. You know I'm no good with words but please know I didn't mean to hurt you" I say genuinely.

"Honey, you didn't. I'll admit I didn't quite understand at times so I might have seemed a little offended but as soon as you explained then I totally got it" she smiles.

As soon as we reach the car, Santana opens the door for me and I get in before she quickly goes around to the driver's side and gets in. Once she shuts the door, she turns to face me.

"I know you're going through a lot babe and you might want some space at some point but don't ever think for second that I'm going anywhere because I'm not" she smiles.

"I know you wouldn't ever go anywhere and that's kind of the thing. I don't want you do it because you're a nice person and would do anything for anyone, I want to make sure you're doing it because you actually think I'm worth it" I say.

"I'm not doing this out of obligation, I promise I am doing it because that's what I truly want" she smiles. "I mean you'd do all this for me, right?"

"You have no idea the length I would go to for you" I smile back.


	24. Bringing the excitement back

Chapter 24: Bringing the excitement back

Brittany's POV

April 2020

I've been going to therapy for a few weeks now and I think it's going really well. Things with Santana and I seem really good and I feel a lot more confident about stuff. My eating habits are not fully under control just yet but I've been told it takes time. I'm not skipping meals anymore but my therapist and Santana don't feel I'm eating enough just yet either. On the whole though everything is looking up and Aiden definitely seems to be settling without us when he needs to which is good.

Last week was our spring break at college so I had the full of the week off which was fun. Santana managed to take a few days off too which was good so we spent a lot of the time with Aiden and doing some fun stuff. He didn't really understand much of what we were doing but he seemed to have fun.

"Hey I'm home" I hear Santana shout as she walks in the front door.

"Hey" I smile while going to meet her.

"How are you?" she asks before leaning in to kiss me.

"I'm good. How was work?" I ask.

"Just the usual I guess but its Friday thankfully so I'm off for a couple of days now" she replies.

"Aiden has literally just went to sleep so I haven't even had time to make us something to eat yet" I tell her.

"That's ok, I'll make us something now if you want" Santana smiles before walking to the kitchen. "What do you fancy to eat?" she asks as I quickly follow behind her.

"Anything will do me" I reply.

"Shall I just heat some leftovers from last night or do you want something else?" she asks as she looks in the fridge.

"I can eat leftovers" I smile.

"That's settled then" she smiles back before lifting the leftover lasagne out of the fridge. Just as she is about to heat it up, we hear Aiden start to cry through the monitor.

"I'll be back in a second" I say while walking to the kitchen door.

"Wait, can I go, I haven't seen Aiden since this morning and I miss him" Santana asks.

"Of course" I smile. "I'll put the food in the oven and you go to Aiden."

"Thanks babe" she says kissing my cheek before leaving the room. It's about 15 minutes later before Santana enters the room again.

"Everything ok?" I ask.

"Yeah, Aiden just didn't seem to want to go back to sleep but I managed in the end to get him to settle" she replies.

"He probably just missed you so didn't want to sleep now that you're home" I tell her.

"Yeah maybe" she smiles.

"Hey come here" I say pulling her towards me.

"Yeah baby?" Santana smiles while wrapping her arms around my waist.

"I haven't thanked you properly for being so understanding about everything lately and how patient you were with me in therapy" I tell her genuinely. "It really means a lot to me and I love you so much."

"I love you too Britt, so much" she replies, leaning up to kiss me.

XXX

Once we had eaten, we both began tidying up before Santana went to check on Aiden and I continued clearing everything away. As soon as I was done, I went to find Santana and Aiden.

"What's going on in here, are you both hanging out without me?" I tease.

"Of course not" Santana smiles. "Every time I tried to put him down, he started crying so I just wanted to make sure he was fully asleep before I put him down this time."

"That's cool" I smile.

"He seems ok now though" Santana says while placing Aiden down gently.

"Yeah he looks quite peaceful now so maybe we shouldn't disturb him" I say.

"Yeah" Santana nods in agreement before we go back to the kitchen.

"What are you up to now?" I ask.

"I was actually just going to pour myself a glass of wine, do you want some babe?" Santana asks.

"Sure" I smile and Santana pours the wine before we go to the living room. "Babe come and sit down" I say while pulling her towards me.

"I was going to do some cleaning though once I had a sip of wine" she replies.

"Can't it wait?" I ask.

"Not really, I have let a lot of the housework go recently so I probably should do some" she tells me while taking a drink before placing her glass down.

"But I wanted to spend time with you" I say.

"Aren't you studying?" she frowns in confusion.

"Not tonight" I shrug while placing my wine down on the table.

"Why didn't you say that before" she says while leaping into my arms and wrapping her arms around my neck.

"Honey you got to warn me when you're going to do that. I nearly put my back out because I tensed up" I laugh.

"I'm sorry" she says leaning down to kiss me.

"It's ok but how about we sit down now" I suggest.

"Yeah good idea" she nods in agreement before I gently place her on the ground and then we sit together on the couch.

"There's a good movie about to come on if you want to watch it" I say.

"Yeah let's do that" she smiles before moving slightly so she can snuggle into me. I gently place my arm around her and we begin watching the movie.

We only get through about 20 minutes of the movie before we realise it doesn't have the best storyline so we find ourselves talking over most parts of it.

"You know I love your hair right?" Santana says looking up at me.

"Um…yeah" I say hesitantly. I have no idea where she is going with this.

"Well what do you think if I dyed my hair so it's a bit closer to your colour?" she asks.

"I mean I love your hair as it is but if you wanted to change it then I'd also love it too. I think you might be quite sexy rocking blonde hair actually" I smile.

"I'm not getting any younger and I just thought it might be nice to change things up a bit while I can still pull it off" she says.

"Baby you could pull anything off no matter your age. You seriously look younger than me sometimes so I wouldn't worry about getting older" I tell her honestly.

"I'm off tomorrow so do you maybe want to go to the salon with me?" she asks excitedly.

"I'd love to babe but I did plan on getting some assignments finished" I say regrettably.

"That's ok, I'll go another time maybe" she shrugs while smiling.

"Or you could just go and surprise me when you get back. You could also take Aiden if you want because I'm sure your hairdresser would love to meet him and I know you like showing him off" I smile.

"I could actually do that and that way you have the house to yourself to study" she nods.

"Awesome" I smile.

"Also if you get all your studying done in the day then maybe tomorrow night you could take some time off and really appreciate my new hair" she smirks.

"I think that's a great idea" I say leaning in to kiss her. "Actually I do have one request though about your hair" I say pulling away.

"What's that?" Santana asks.

"Just don't get it any shorter though because I like having something to tangle my hands in when we're having sex" I smirk.

"Ok, noted" Santana smiles.

"Good" I smile back.

"Hey have I showed you the last video I took of Aiden on my iPad, it's another one where he is laughing slightly again?" Santana asks after a moment of silence.

"I don't think you have actually" I reply. Aiden has only just started laughing recently, he's been smiling a lot longer but recently whenever he laughs, Santana likes to record it.

"I'll show you it" she smiles before hovering over me slightly to grab her iPad which is at the side of the couch.

"When you lean over like that I can totally see your boobs" I smirk. "It's a very lovely sight, I must admit."

"Thanks baby" she says leaning down to kiss me before grabbing the iPad.

* * *

Santana's POV

After I went to the salon with Aiden, we went back home. I could see Brittany was still studying hard so I didn't want to disturb her so I gave Aiden some milk and then I took him a walk to the park. We spent most of the day together, just the two of us, before I thought we should head back in case Brittany started to get worried.

We're just clearing up from dinner now and then we'll most likely put Aiden down for a nap. I'm just washing up some of the dishes when Brittany walks over to me.

"Baby…how much do you love me?" Brittany asks wrapping her arms around my waist.

"What do you want?" I laugh. I can tell by her tone of voice that she wants something right now.

"Well we finished the wine last night and I'm really craving another glass right now" she says. "I would go myself but I'm not nearly presentable enough to go outside since I've been studying inside in my sweatpants all day so would you mind going to the store really quickly for me?"

"Ok honey" I say giving in. We don't get many nights to relax together so we might as well enjoy tonight with a glass of wine.

"Thank you" she smiles.

"I won't be long, ok?" I say leaning in to kiss her before quickly grabbing my car keys.

"Ok" she smiles and then I leave.

It doesn't take me long to get the wine because the store is reasonably close and I didn't buy anything else so I just quickly ran in, grabbed a bottle, paid for it and then left to head home.

"Hey I'm back" I shout when I walk through the door. I don't get a reply from Brittany so I walk into the living room where I find Aiden. "Aiden, what are you doing in here alone?" I ask while sitting the wine down and quickly picking him up. "Where's mommy?"

"Right here" Brittany smirks while walking into the room.

"Wow…you look so hot right now" I smirk.

"I wanted to make an entrance so I had Aiden distract you for a second so you wouldn't come looking for me and spoil the surprise" she smiles.

"Well you most certainly have made an entrance and I love what you're wearing" I smile. "Some new lingerie is it?"

"Yes it is but don't worry I won't have it on for too long" she smirks.

"Is that so?" I smile.

"Yeah I mean I was hoping once we get Aiden down for a nap then you and I could you know…nap" she winks.

"I think that's a great idea" I say leaning over to quickly peck her on the lips.

"Let's go and get Aiden settled and then I've got a surprise in the bedroom waiting for you" Brittany tells me.

"Ok" I say excitedly.

I think I probably wore Aiden out a bit today because it really doesn't take long to get him settled in the nursery. Once he begins drifting off to sleep, we wait a few more minutes to make sure he's going to settle ok before slowly creeping out of the room.

"So did you really want wine or was that just a ploy to get me out of the house for ten minutes so you could change into that oh so sexy outfit?" I ask as we walk to our bedroom.

"I wasn't desperate for wine but it certainly won't be unwelcomed" she smiles.

"Good because I left it at the top of the stairs when we came up with Aiden" I tell her while grabbing the wine and the glasses. "Shall I pour you a glass?" I ask as we enter the room.

"Yes please" she smiles.

"Ok there you go babe" I say handing her a glass.

"Thank you" she smiles and we sit down on the bed together.

"This is nice isn't it?" I say.

"Yeah I like it when we get to have nights like this" she replies.

"Me too" I agree.

"I don't know if I actually said earlier but I really love your hair baby" she smiles while gently running her fingers through my hair.

"You did say it but you can keep saying it honey because I love it when you give me compliments" I smile.

XXX

"Uh…we need to hurry" I say out of breath as I continue to thrust in and out of Brittany. "I can hear Aiden stirring in the nursery."

"Uh…ok" Brittany says, also breathless. "I'm almost there, just move a little faster" she moans.

I quicken the pace and thrust into Brittany a bit harder. Eventually we both cum at the same time and take a moment to get our breaths back before quickly throwing some clothes on. As soon as we're appropriately dressed, we head to Aiden's room to make sure he's ok.

"Babe, look" Brittany sighs while pointing to a peacefully asleep Aiden. "You made us hurry and Aiden isn't even awake."

"I'm sorry baby" I say kissing her cheek. "I swear I could hear him making those cute little noises he makes just as he's about to wake up. I really didn't want to chance it in case he did start crying."

"It's ok, I understand" she smiles.

"Do you think we should maybe leave the room before we do actually wake Aiden?" I ask.

"Yeah…oh too late" Brittany says just as Aiden wakes up and starts to cry.

"Hey sweetie what's wrong?" I say gently placing my hand on his stomach. As soon as he realises Brittany and I are there, his cries begin to subside. "Did you just want to see mommy and me?" I ask him while tickling his chin causing him to smile slightly and look up at me. I continue to tickle him slightly for a few minutes before Brittany leans over.

"Come on Santana" Brittany says picking Aiden up.

"Did you just call our son Santana?" I laugh.

"Yes because he looks exactly like you when he does that cute little face" she smiles.

"That's his poop face Britt, I hope to god I don't look like that" I chuckle.

"Since you know that face so well, why don't you change him" she smirks while placing Aiden in my arms.

"Fine…ok" I say reluctantly. I know babies need their diapers changed but it's not the most fun task in the world for me. Somehow Aiden always seems to wriggle about when I change his diaper.

"I'm going to run downstairs and get his bottle for him, I won't be long" Brittany says quickly kissing my cheek before she leaves.

As soon as I get Aiden's diaper changed, I sit down on the chair with him in my arms. I gently rock him but not too much that he falls asleep because I want him to have his bottle first. A few minutes later, Brittany comes back into the room.

"Do you want to feed him?" I ask as she hands me the bottle of milk.

"No you do it, you look cute doing it" she smiles.

"Ok" I smile back before beginning to feed Aiden. Brittany takes a seat on the arm of the chair and gently puts her arm around me. Once Aiden has had enough milk to drink, I burp him and make sure he doesn't need changed again before placing him in down in his crib.

"I think he's asleep now" Brittany says a few minutes later.

"Yeah I think so too" I nod. "Anyway, I'm going to get ready for bed now" I say moving away from the crib.

"Ok babe, I'll be there in ten minutes. I just want to sit with Aiden for a little while more" Brittany smiles down at our sleeping son.

"Ok" I reply before leaning in to kiss her and then leaving.

I'm just going through my usual nightly routine when after about ten minutes Brittany comes up behind me and wraps her arms around me. She then leans in and begins kissing my neck.

"Baby I'm brushing my teeth right now" I smile at her through the mirror.

"Yeah, and?" she asks shrugging.

"Well I'm not very sexy right now standing with a mouthful of foam spitting into the sink" I state.

"I think whatever you do is sexy" she shrugs again before quickly pecking my cheek and moving away to put her moisturiser on. As soon as I'm finished, I go over to Brittany and kiss her.

"Mm minty fresh" she grins pulling away from the kiss.

"You're so cute sometimes and I love that" I smile.

"I love that you love that" she smiles back.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Saturday 23rd May 2020

Brittany's exams finished in the middle of last week so she's finished with college and can graduate soon providing the results all say pass next week. She's decided she's going to go back to work at the café until she gets the results and then she's going to apply for jobs related to her degree.

Now that college is almost over then it means Brittany hasn't been studying anymore so we've both really been enjoying all this free time we have together. I mean it might not seem lots of time to some people since I work fulltime and Brittany has just started work back at the café but to us this is the most time we've ever had to spend together in ages.

"Aiden is hungry so I just need to heat up his bottle" Brittany says walking into the kitchen and going over to stand in front of me.

"Ok" I smile.

"Would you care to step out of the way then so I can get the formula from behind you?" she smiles back.

"I don't know" I say playfully to annoy her.

"Baby come on, I need to prepare Aid's milk because he's hungry" she says beginning to gently shove me to the side.

"Aiden is a good boy, he doesn't mind if you're a minute or so late with his bottle" I smile while grabbing her hips bringing her closer to me.

"I think he will mind but I'll be right back as soon as I'm finished feeding him" she smiles.

"Fine" I smile back and let go of her hips.

"I'll be back soon" she smiles before quickly kissing my lips and then leaving the room. She's gone for about 15 minutes and as soon as she walks back into the kitchen she puts Aiden's empty bottle down and makes her way over to me.

"Hi" I smile at her as she wraps her arms around my waist.

"Hi baby" she smiles back while gently pushing me back against the kitchen countertop and leaning in close to me. Our eyes connect for a second before she leans in and kisses me.

"I'm getting so turned on right now" I say while moaning into the kiss.

"You've no idea just how turned on I am" Brittany says pulling me closer to her so our bodies are as close as they can be.

"Hey it's me…Jesus" Emma says before quickly covering her eyes.

"As always Emma, you have impeccable timing" I say rolling my eyes before moving away from Brittany.

"You can uncover your eyes now honey" Brittany laughs.

"Yeah and while you do that, tell us why you're here" I state.

"I missed my nephew so I actually came here to see if I could look after him for a while but since you have a bit of attitude Santana then I don't know if you deserve Brittany all to yourself" she shrugs.

"No matter what happens Emma, I'm still going to have sex with your sister at some point today so if you think you're doing me a favour then you're not really" I say with a slight shrug.

"Let's move on" Brittany says trying to change the subject. "Emma if you want to spend some time with Aiden today then you can" she tells her.

"Yeah I'd like to" Emma smiles. "Mom and dad said he can stay with us tonight as well if you want unless you'd rather have him home."

"No I'm happy for him to stay the night with you guys" Brittany replies.

"Yeah me too" I say smiling over at Brittany.

"Would you just stop Santana, please" Emma shakes her head at me. "I know you want Brittany all to yourself but you don't need to be so obvious about it."

"Brittany I'm going to get Aiden ready, why don't you entertain your sister and keep her away from me" I reply while smirking at Emma causing her to glare at me.

"Ok" Brittany nods.

As soon as I get Aiden ready, I begin packing a bag for him with all the stuff he might need tonight to stay with Brittany's parents. I then take him downstairs to say goodbye to Brittany and we tell Emma everything she needs to know about looking after him. Emma then leaves with Aiden and I go back to what I was doing in the kitchen earlier.

"Upstairs right now baby" Brittany says while turning me around and scooping me up bridal style.

"What's going on?" I laugh.

"Emma has Aiden now and they've finally left so I think we should make most of this free time" she smiles.

"But I thought I was taking you out for lunch?" I query.

"You are but we're pushing it back slightly because we have some business to attend to upstairs that really can't wait any longer" she smirks.

XXX

Our plans changed slightly and we ended up not going out for lunch and just hung out together at home. We decided we'd rather go out to dinner instead and make it into a proper date night where we go somewhere nice and dress up.

Once we finished dinner, we decided to stay out and get some drinks at a club nearby. I don't think Brittany and I have really done that before because shortly after Brittany turned 21 we started trying for a baby. We hung out a lot and went to parties but we never got to actually have drinks in public or anything since Brittany was too young.

"I'm just going to the bathroom babe, I'll be back in a second" Brittany says while standing up. "Hey can you watch my purse for me please" she asks while placing her purse in my lap.

"Sure honey" I smile and then Brittany leaves.

I'm just sitting by myself waiting on Brittany when I notice someone sit down next to me. I briefly glance at her just to see who she is and why she's sitting right next to me when there's plenty of other free seats. When I go to turn away, she turns her head and smiles at me. I smile politely back before looking in the other direction.

"Hi" I hear her say.

"Um…hi" I reply hesitantly while turning back around to look at her. I don't want to be completely rude and cause a scene but I don't want to invite a conversation either.

"Do I know you because you look familiar?" she asks with a smile.

"I don't think so" I say honestly. She doesn't look in the least bit familiar to me.

"I'm Michele by the way" she smiles again.

"Cool" I nod, trying not to say too much to her.

"Aren't you going to tell me your name?" she asks with a slight laugh.

"I'm not, no" I shake my head, praying internally that Brittany will come back from the bathroom soon.

"Ok, suit yourself" Michele shrugs. "So can I get you a drink, I notice you haven't got one yet?" she asks.

"No thank you, I'm waiting on someone" I reply.

"Oh are you waiting on a friend?" Michele asks.

"No she's waiting on a wife actually" Brittany says while standing in between us. I have no idea when she got back from the bathroom but I don't care. I'm just glad she's here now.

"Oh…uh…I should go" Michele states while standing up.

"I think that would be wise" Brittany says glaring at Michele. "I also think it might be an idea to go to an optician too because clearly you can't see very well since you didn't notice my wife wearing a wedding ring. She has expensive taste so it's really quite a noticeable diamond she has on her finger" she adds.

"I'm sorry" Michele says quietly while quickly leaving.

"Man, the nerve on some people" Brittany says shaking her head while sitting down next to me.

"Yeah" I say smiling at her.

"So do you want to…um why are you smiling at me?" she asks, just noticing I'm currently sitting looking at her and smiling.

"Because I liked what you just did" I reply, still smiling.

"What did I just do?" she asks playing dumb.

"You know exactly what you did and I liked it" I say. We both know we love each other but it was nice the way Brittany made that woman know she was my wife and she didn't like the fact she was trying to hit on me.

"I'm sure you would do the same for me" she shrugs as if it was no big deal that she did that.

"Of course I would" I tell her honestly.

"I mean she was clearly trying to hit on you and it was obvious you weren't interested but yet she kept doing it. I tell you if anyone else does that then I might do something stronger than just give them a warning" she states.

"I love you" I smile while leaning in to kiss her.

"I love you too" she blushes. "So…uh…shall I order us some drinks?" she asks.

"Yes please" I smile and then Brittany calls a bartender over.

"Can I see some ID please?" the bartender asks.

"Sure" Brittany nods before digging her driver's licence out of her purse.

"Thank you" the bartender says checking the ID. "The drinks are coming right up" he smiles before giving Brittany her licence back and sorting out our drinks.

"I wish someone would ask me for ID" I joke feeling a little old right now.

"Honey you're still young" Brittany smiles while leaning over to kiss my cheek.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Friday 29th May 2020

"Baby wake up please" Brittany says shaking me rather hard. "Santana come on babe" she says shaking me even harder beginning to get irritated.

"Santana is sleeping and so is Aiden so why don't you" I sigh while moving away from her so she'll stop shaking me.

"Please I really need you right now" she pleads while bouncing slightly when she gets on the bed.

"Right now?" I ask while opening one eye to look at her.

"Yes babe, right now" she nods enthusiastically.

"Fine but I'm really tired so you'll need to be on top" I sigh while throwing the cover off and rolling my pyjamas bottoms down.

"Jesus Santana, no" she frowns while quickly putting the cover back over me.

"What's wrong?" I ask, finally opening the other eye to look at her.

"When I said I needed you I meant I needed your support, I didn't mean I wanted sex" she shakes her head in annoyance.

"My support, baby what's happened?" I ask, quickly sitting up in concern. It sounds really serious so I want to give her my full attention.

"You do remember what day it is today, right?" she asks.

"Of course I do, that's why I'm so enthusiastic to get up and knew you weren't talking about sex" I say sarcastically.

"I really don't need this today Santana" she sighs.

"I'm sorry for being sarcastic but you're talking in riddles and it's frustrating me. I can see I'm supposed to know what today is but I don't so please just tell me instead of talking around the situation" I say.

"At 8am today I get my college results and then I know whether I'll graduate or not" she replies.

"Oh I remember now" I say nodding in understanding. We sit in silence for a few minute until it turns eight o'clock. "That's 8am, are you going to look now?" I ask.

"I don't know if I can look" Brittany says nervously, her hands shaking as she holds the iPad tightly.

"You can do it babe, I know you've passed" I smile at her reassuringly.

"Ok I'm going to do it" Brittany says taking a deep breath before logging in to see her results. There seems to be a long silence for a moment until Brittany speak up again. "Oh…wow" she says staring at the iPad.

"What does it say babe?" I say, the suspense killing me.

"I…uh…" she can't even form a sentence right now. I don't know if it's good or bad news.

"Babe are you graduating?" I ask eager to know what's going on.

"I got all A's" she says looking at me in shock.

"Oh my god, that's fantastic honey" I say engulfing her in a big hug. I knew Brittany was really smart but she was really nervous when she took the exams so I wasn't sure if the nerves perhaps took over at times. Don't get me wrong, I knew she would pass them all, I just wasn't sure what her grade would be.

"I feel like these can't be my results" she says still in shock.

"Come on honey, I'll take a look" I say taking the iPad from her and scrolling down to look at each result. "No these are definitely your results honey and you're definitely graduating" I assure her. "I am so proud of you right now, you have no idea" I smile while putting the iPad down and leaning over to hug her again.

"Not to be conceited but I'm kinda proud of me too" she shrugs as I pull out of the hug.

"You have every right to be proud honey" I say squeezing her hand before leaning in to kiss her.

"I've never felt so relieved in all my life before. I think I was more scared to get these results than I was to give birth" she jokes.

"It can be really scary" I tell her. "I mean I felt the exact same as you when I got mine but luckily it was all good news."

"In all honesty I probably would have been even worse if you hadn't of been here for me" she smiles.

"Yeah I probably would have felt better if you had been there for me" I tell her honestly.

"Anyway I finally have my results so we should celebrate now" she smiles.

"We totally should" I nod in agreement.

"You know, I'm in the mood now so I kinda want to have sex" she smirks.

"I kinda want to too" I say leaning in to kiss her. I can feel the kiss intensify just as Aiden begins crying. "Apparently our son doesn't though" I chuckle.

"I'll go and check on him" she smiles while getting off the bed.

"Ok baby" I nod. "I'll go downstairs and make us some breakfast and get Aiden's milk ready because he's probably hungry" I say.

"Ok I'll be down with him in a second… In fact after I check on Aiden I'll probably call my parents and tell them about my results and then I'll be down" Brittany replies.

"That's cool babe" I smile and then we leave the room in different directions.


	25. Vacation

Chapter 25: Vacation

Santana's POV

I'm just making breakfast in the kitchen when Brittany walks into the room. She's all dressed and ready to go to work. She has Aiden in one arm while carrying her stuff for work in the other. I rush over to help her so she doesn't drop anything. I mean I don't really care if she drops her jacket or her bag but if she drops my baby boy then that's another story altogether.

"Come on baby, we don't want mommy to drop you" I say while taking Aiden from Brittany.

"Like I'd drop him" Brittany shakes her head at the idea. "Plus I'm a waitress so I'm very skilled at carrying multiple things at once" she points out.

"I know you wouldn't really drop my precious little boy, I was just messing" I smile at her. "So baby do you want some breakfast?"

"No I don't have time, I need to head to work" Brittany replies.

"Oh I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to my boy" I smirk at her while bouncing Aiden slightly in my arms.

"I know you were talking to me babe" she states.

"Yeah I was, again I was just messing with you" I say honestly while smiling at her.

"What's with the chipper mood this morning? I mean I know you're generally a happy person but you're a lot more cheerful than usual this morning" Brittany asks.

"I'm just excited to spend some quality time with Aiden" I shrug. I love spending time with Brittany as well obviously but it's nice once in a while to spend the full day with my son especially if I've had a hectic week at work and I haven't seen him as much as I'd like.

"Aw that's cute" Brittany smiles.

"Well I love him" I shrug again because I do, I really do.

"I know you do but anyway I need to go now" Brittany smiles before kissing both Aiden and me and then heading to the door with her stuff to leave.

"Britt wait a second babe" I say and she turns around.

"What's wrong?" she asks.

"I don't want to seem like an annoying wife but I really don't want you to go right now without eating" I say honestly. With everything that has been going on with Brittany in the past few months then I don't like the fact she wants to leave without eating.

"I know and I promise I am going to eat, I just don't have time right now because I spent too much time playing with Aiden when I got up that I'm running behind. I promise as soon as I get there I'll grab a bagel and eat it while I start my shift" she replies and I can tell she's genuine.

"Ok" I smile.

"If you're out in the area today then you two should come by. We could have lunch together when I get my break if you want" Brittany suggests.

"Sounds good, we'll definitely do that" I reply.

"Ok well I'll see you later" she smiles.

"Bye honey" I smile back and then Brittany leaves. "Ok, just you and me now so what do you want to do?" I ask looking at Aiden. He just looks at me before pulling a very familiar face. "Oh honey, couldn't you do that before mommy left" I groan while taking Aiden through to the study to get a clean diaper. It's not so much a study anymore as its mostly used like a playroom/bedroom for whenever we're downstairs and Aiden needs a nap or needs changed.

XXX

After hanging out with Aiden most of the morning, I got him ready and we headed out to the park. We were going to go straight to the café to see Brittany but I figured we were just a bit too early and she wouldn't have her break for another while so I decided to take Aiden to the park to kill some time first.

"Hey look Aid, its mommy" I say walking into the café carrying Aiden in his car seat. I go over to the counter and sit the car seat on it and I sit on one of the stools. Brittany was just finishing up at a table so I just sat patiently until she was done. As soon as she is done at the table, she heads over to the counter with her head down while she writes something down on her notepad. "Service please" I say as she walks past.

"Hi what can I…um hi" Brittany says surprised to see me. "I didn't even know you two were in here right now, when did you get here?" she asks while leaning down to kiss Aiden's head.

"We just got here but you were busy so I just sat down to wait" I smile in reply.

"I'm glad you're here honey but I won't get my break for another 45 minutes" she replies.

"That's ok, I'll take a coffee when you get a moment and Aiden and I will just grab a table and I'll do some work. He's sleeping just now and I've got my laptop in my bag" I say.

"Ok" she smiles before going around to the other side of the counter. "I just need to give this order to the guys through the back and then I'll get you some coffee. I'll bring it over if you want to grab a table."

"Ok baby" I smile before lifting Aiden over to a free table. I carefully sit the car seat down next to me on one of the booths and I get my laptop out. I open up my email and begin checking over it while Aiden continues to sleep peacefully.

"Here is your order" one of the waitresses says as she places my coffee down on the table while placing a plate down next to it with a doughnut on it.

"Thanks…oh I didn't order a doughnut, it was just coffee" I say before she leaves.

"I know but the blonde at the counter asked me to get a doughnut for you" the waitress smiles.

"Well you tell that blonde that I don't want a doughnut" I state, offended that some customer thinks they can hit on me right now, especially in my wife's place of work.

"But it's from…"

"I don't care who it's from, just take it back please" I say cutting her off.

"Um…ok" the waitress shrugs before taking the plate away. I go back to looking over my emails when I suddenly feel a presence in front of the table so I look up and find Brittany standing looking at me.

"Hi honey" I smile.

"I hear you don't want a doughnut so would you prefer my muffin" she says suggestively while placing a plate with a muffin on it on the table.

"Wait the doughnut was from you?" I query.

"It was from me baby, yes" she laughs. "But you don't want it so I'm asking if you'd prefer a muffin" she smirks.

"I'm sorry, I thought it was some bitch trying to hit on me or something because your colleague just said it was from a blonde at the counter and I wasn't really paying attention" I shrug.

"Honey, I doubt anyone is going to hit on you in a café at 1 in the afternoon, this place doesn't really give off that kind of romantic vibe" Brittany laughs.

"I'll have you know I got hit on tons of times in here" I state.

"Oh really?" Brittany asks raising an eyebrow. "And where might I have been when all of this was going on?" she asks slightly annoyed.

"Baby you were the one hitting on me" I laugh.

"Oh" she replies embarrassed.

"If it hadn't have been for this place, you and I wouldn't be where we are now" I shrug. I met Brittany for the first time right here in this café so I'm thankful for this place.

"That's true" she smiles. "Anyway I need to get back to work but do you want this muffin?" she asks.

"I would love your muffin, yes" I wink.

"Ok, I'll see you soon" she laughs before walking back over to the counter. It's about another 40 minutes before Brittany joins me at the table. "I hope you don't mind but I just ordered for us when I was through the back to save time" she says.

"No that's cool babe" I smile while closing the lid on my laptop and putting it away.

"So how are my two favourite people?" she asks.

"We're great" I smile. "Aiden helped me do a little tidying this morning and then we went to the park and saw some doggies. I think Aiden really wants a dog now because you should have seen how happy he was when we stopped to pet one."

"Does Aiden really want a dog or does Santana?" Brittany questions.

"No it's Aiden, honestly" I say but who am I kidding.

"Aiden doesn't lie to his mommy so I'll ask him when he wakes up" Brittany smirks.

"Ok so Santana really wants a dog but Aiden does like them too" I point out.

"You know I love dogs but we have a lot going on right now but I'll think about it, ok?" she says.

"Yeah I mean that's reasonable" I smile. I'm not desperate for a dog but I had a dog when I was younger and I'm sure Aiden will love it. Plus it's a good way to teach him about responsibility when he gets older. "So how are things at work?" I ask changing the subject.

"They're ok but knowing I've passed everything I need to pass at college and I graduate soon then it sort of makes me less motivated here because I know I'm capable of doing other things" Brittany replies honestly.

"That's understandable" I nod.

"I mean this is an ok job but knowing I have a degree in something completely different makes me want to just quit but that's not practical" she states. "I'm finally working full time now and earning a better salary than before so it's going to help us moneywise."

"I know and I'm sure you'll get something soon" I tell her.

"Yeah I mean my plan is to just keep working here and keep putting in applications wherever I can until I get an interview or something" she says.

"That's all you can do at the moment honey" I say. I know she doesn't like it here but I can't sugar-coat things because not everyone likes the job they do but they do it for the money. I mean we were managing ok with my fulltime wage and Brittany working part time but we do have a young son so the more money we get just now the better. Don't get me wrong we're not in a financial mess or anything but it's nice to know you're financially secure especially since I've just asked for dog.

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Brittany's family and my family are all going out to a restaurant tonight to celebrate Brittany graduating college. She was only allowed so many people at the ceremony yesterday due to ticket restrictions per graduate so the whole family can now celebrate with her tonight. I mean we all did celebrate when she got her exam results the other week but actually having a graduation ceremony just makes it all the more real and makes the degree official.

"Are you serious right now?" Brittany asks laughing as she walks into the nursery.

"What?" I say frowning in confusion.

"Aiden is wearing a tux" she points out. "We're going to dinner babe, not the Oscars" she laughs.

"I know but he's super cute in it and he and I are super proud of you so this family meal is important to us, we want to look our best" I smile.

"I didn't even know they made tuxedos that small, in fact I didn't even know we bought Aiden one" Brittany says.

"Well there may have been a day where I spent a little too much during a shopping spree so I may have omitted a few key purchases when you asked what I bought" I reply hesitantly. I mean Brittany and I both like shopping but ever since we had Aiden I've spent a lot more buying cute outfits for him.

"I guess I could forgive you because he is very cute looking" she smiles at Aiden.

"Ok" I smile happily at the fact I'm off the hook. I know I will need to cut back a little on my purchases though.

"Are we ready to go then?" she asks.

"Yeah I think we are babe" I smile at her while picking up Aiden's bag and throwing it over my shoulder while carrying Aiden in my other arm.

"Aiden isn't the only one looking cute tonight though" Brittany turns around and winks at me before leaving the room.

"I was just thinking the same about you actually" I smirk.

Once we head outside, we get into Brittany's dad's car. He and her mom were picking us and Aiden up to go to the restaurant because they're both working tomorrow so won't be drinking tonight. The journey to the restaurant didn't really take long so we're there before we know it. Once we get inside we greet everyone and then order our food. After our starter we were told the food might take a little longer than it usually would since there is so many of us which we didn't mind anyway because it would give us time to catch up with everyone.

"Ok everyone, let's raise our glasses to Brittany" James says holding up his glass after making a little speech.

"To Brittany" we all say together while raising our glasses before clinking them together with everyone else's.

"That was a great speech dad, thank you" Brittany smiles at James. "But if you could all excuse me, I'm just going to the bathroom" she says standing up from the table.

"Ok" I smile and then Brittany leaves.

XXX

"We still got it babe" I smile at Brittany as we leave the bathrooms. I may have went to the bathroom not long after Brittany just to make sure she was ok but when Brittany complimented how hot I looked then it was kinda inevitable we'd have sex.

"Yes we do" she smiles back. "We may be parents now but we're still fun and dangerous."

"Yeah" I nod laughing.

"Why are you laughing?" Brittany asks looking at me.

"Well we're not exactly dangerous, fun yes but dangerous no" I say. "I mean we had sex in a restaurant bathroom, it wasn't exactly out of this world."

"I liked it" Brittany shrugs.

"No baby I did like it, I'm just saying it wasn't that extravagant to do it in a restaurant" I reply.

"What would be for you then?" she asks.

"I don't know, forget I said anything" I say shaking my head in embarrassment.

"Whatever you want I'll do so if something comes to mind then tell me" she says kissing my cheek.

"Um…ok" I smile just as we join everyone else at the table.

"Where on earth were you two?" my mom asks.

"Sorry, I was in the bathroom and Santana came to check on me but then she decided she needed to use the toilet. The only problem then was that she managed to get the lock on the door jammed so we spent 10 minutes trying to get her out of the stall without ruining either of our dresses" Brittany replies.

"Oh goodness" my mom says in shock.

"It was a bit of an ordeal but I'm here now" I smile.

"You should have got one of us and we'd have helped you. You know your dad keeps tools in his car from time to time" Karen says to Brittany.

"I suppose but we're fine anyway" Brittany smiles politely. Wow I did not think anyone would have bought that story but they really have.

"Hey honey, I know what you two were up to" Quinn says whispering to me. Don't ask me what kind of relationship she and my brother have right now but since she's my nephew's mom and my best friend then she often comes to family dinners with us.

"We weren't up to anything Q, we've just told you all the story" I say playing dumb.

"Everyone else may have bought it but I certainly didn't" she states.

"Well that's your call but it is the truth" I shrug.

"The reason that makes me disagree is because why would you lock the stall door when it was just you and Brittany in there?" she says.

"Force of habit I guess since I usually look the door when I go to the toilet" I shrug again.

"But is it though?" she asks. "I mean it's just you, Brittany and Aiden at home and Aiden is in no position to walk into the bathroom just yet so I don't know why you'd even lock the door at home."

"Quinn just eat your dinner please" I say shaking my head.

"I'll eat my dinner when you take those blonde hairs off your dress and wipe Brittany's lipstick off your face" she smirks.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

June 2020

Brittany and I are currently getting Aiden ready for the day and putting last minute things into our suitcases since we're going on vacation today. We're going for a week and our 1st wedding anniversary will be right in the middle of it.

Initially we were just thinking of booking something for a few days, just us and Aiden but then we figured it might be nice to spend a week away with the people we love too so both families are all going. Also going away with everyone means we can go somewhere a bit nicer and for longer and get it cheaper since there are more of us so we can get a bit of a package deal. It also helps that my parents said they'd have Aiden all night on our wedding anniversary so we could spend it just the two of us plus this is Brittany's parents' first grandchild and they were really looking forward to being with Aiden on his first vacation.

"The cab is outside babe so are you ready to go?" Brittany asks.

"Yeah, let's go" I say carrying Aiden out to the cab while Brittany brings out the suitcases and locks up the house. Once we get to the airport, we meet up with everyone and get all checked in before going to our departure gate.

"Mom is about to fall off her chair in desperation to hold you so you're just going to sit with her now, ok sweetheart" Brittany says kissing Aiden's cheek before giving him to me.

"Hi baby, I missed you" I say kissing all over his face.

"It's literally been ten minutes Santana" Brittany rolls her eyes while shaking her head at me.

"Whatever Britt" I say waving her off. "So is my favourite little guy excited about his first ride on an aeroplane?" I ask Aiden while bouncing him gently on my knee.

"Baby I've not long fed Aiden so watch he isn't sick on you if you're going to bounce him up and down" Brittany points out.

"I'll be fine" I wave her off once again. I'm so excited to take Aiden on his first vacation.

By the time we reached our destination, everyone was exhausted so we all decided to go to our rooms and just go to bed. Brittany and I got Aiden settled and had something to eat before going to bed. After a good night's sleep, I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to start my first day of vacation with my family. We texted everyone to tell them we should all meet for breakfast and then we can discuss our plans for the day.

We've just sitting at breakfast and I'm currently entertaining Aiden when I notice Brittany has barely ate any breakfast and has been typing on her phone for a while now.

"Baby I thought we said we'd use our phones less this week since we're on vacation" I say taking the phone from her hand.

"Sorry I just wanted to know if I heard from the job I recently applied for. The closing date was a few days ago and it's the same hospital I did my placement a year ago so I was really hoping to hear back" she tells me.

"Oh I see" I nod in understanding.

"I promise I won't keep doing it. Actually, how about I only check my email in the morning. I could just do it once when I wake up and if I have nothing, I'll leave it and check the next day again" she says.

"Ok babe" I smile.

"Can I have my phone back please?" she smiles.

"Right yeah, sorry" I laugh while handing Brittany her phone back. Once everyone finishes at breakfast, we decide to just have a relaxing day and do whatever we want until we all meet up later tonight for dinner. Brittany and I have decided to go back to the room to grab Aiden's stroller and then we'll go for a walk before maybe hitting the beach.

"Are you going to help mommy build a sandcastle later?" Brittany asks while bouncing Aiden slightly in her arms as we take the elevator upstairs. He looks at her for a moment before raising his hand to touch her hair.

"That sounds like fun, doesn't it baby" I say leaning in to kiss him. "I'm excited because we never go to the beach anymore" I say to Brittany.

"Yeah I know and sandcastles aren't the only fun thing about the beach" Brittany points out.

"And what else is?" I ask curiously.

"Um, perhaps staring at you in a bikini" she replies as if it's obvious.

"Oh right" I smirk before leaning in to kiss her. Just as I do it, I feel her pants suddenly vibrate causing me to chuckle.

"Sorry that's my phone, I thought I turned it off" Brittany apologises while giving me Aiden and taking her phone out of her pocket. "It's an email alert but I'll read it tomorrow."

"It's ok, just read it now" I smile.

"Are you sure?" she asks.

"Of course" I smile again and then she quickly opens the email. "What is it babe?" I ask noticing her staring at the screen but not saying anything.

"I have a job interview" she replies in shock.

"That's fantastic honey" I say happily. "I would totally hug you but my hands are kind of full right now with Aid and his bag."

"It's ok" she smiles.

"So what is it actually saying, is it just an interview?" I ask curiously.

"They've basically said everything except actually saying the job is mine. They said they need to interview a number of people due to formality but I'm a really strong candidate and they'd love to take me on" she says excitedly.

"That's great babe" I say smiling brightly.

* * *

Brittany's POV

The vacation has been really fun so far. We've went to the beach a couple of times, went shopping, all done some activities together and now we're just all relaxing by the pool. Well I mean not everyone but mostly everyone. Santana and Quinn took the boys inside for a little while to get them out of the heat. I've just left the pool area to go back to my hotel room to grab a few things. When I walk in I see Santana lying peacefully on the bed on her side facing the other direction. I slowly creep closer to the bed and then as soon as I approach her I hit her on the ass.

"Hi baby…Jesus" I scream the last part when I quickly realise Aiden is lying on the bed next to her.

"Are you ok?" Santana asks laughing.

"I didn't know Aiden was with you and I totally just slapped you on the ass" I say embarrassed.

"Like he knows you did that" she smiles shaking her head.

"Still it makes me uncomfortable" I say still embarrassed.

"Who did you think I was talking to and where did you think Aiden was?" she asks.

"You haven't been talking since I walked into the room so I assumed you were alone" I reply. "As for Aiden I thought maybe Quinn had him."

"Anyway why don't you join us babe" Santana suggests.

"I guess I could because I have missed this little guy" I say lying on the other side of Aiden. "His mom seems to monopolise him all the time and I very rarely get to spend time with him" I tease.

"Is it a crime to be so in love with my little boy?" she shrugs.

"Of course not" I smile.

After spending some time just the 3 of us, we decided to go back to the pool to meet with everyone else. We all hung out for a while before going back to our rooms to get ready for dinner. After a lovely dinner together, we all decided to do something fun and go to a karaoke bar. My parents and Santana's parents weren't really into the idea so they took Aiden and Harry with them. I'm not complaining though because it gives Santana and me some time to just have fun and let our hair down without worrying about Aiden all the time.

"There's not a lot of names up there so far and I don't want to be one of the first people up there and make a fool of myself since I really can't sing" Santana's sister Eva says.

"Babe you go up there" I say turning to Santana.

"No I haven't had nearly enough drinks in me yet to get the courage to go up there" Santana says.

"You love singing and you're great at it" I say.

"I haven't sung in a really long time so I don't want to embarrass myself when I'm this sober" she states.

"Trust me you couldn't be a bad singer if you tried" I smile.

"Fine but I'm blaming you if everyone laughs at me" she says before going over to the band and telling them the song she wants on.

"Ok everyone we have Santana now and she'll be singing an old classic" the band says and then the music to 'If I can't have you' begins.

"Santana is so sexy when she sings, isn't she?" I say to Emma.

"No not really" Emma shrugs uninterested.

"Well I strongly disagree" I say before going over to kiss Santana as soon as she is done.

"What's that for?" Santana asks with a smile.

"Because you were so sexy up there singing and I loved that you picked that song. You used to sing that to me all the time" I smile.

"I was singing that to you right now as well" she smiles while taking my hand as we walk back over to everyone else.

"It's your turn Brittany, let's hear you sing something" Quinn tells me.

"No I can't possibly follow Santana" I shake my head.

"You're not that bad babe" Santana smiles.

"Ok fine" I say giving in.

XXX

Santana and I have just got into bed after getting back to the hotel late after karaoke. My mom texted me earlier in the night and said she'd keep Aiden overnight so we could stay out as long as we liked so Santana and I wasted no time in taking advantage of that.

"Uh…what are you doing?" I gasp when I feel Santana slowly slip her hand into my panties.

"You'll see, just relax and enjoy babe" she tells me.

"Oh…ok" I smile while getting comfortable on the bed.

"Happy anniversary babe" she says leaning up to kiss me before slipping a finger inside me.

"Oh yeah, it's after midnight" I smile just realising it's now our anniversary.

"Yeah and what better way to celebrate than to have a little fun" she smirks before kissing me and slowly adding another finger inside me.

"Oh god" I moan out.

"I love how quickly you get turned on" she smiles.

"I love how good you are at sex" I smirk back. "It's a shame we don't get to do it as much as we'd like to" I point out. I love Aiden but we can't be as spontaneous anymore, we sort of need to schedule sex and the fun kinda goes sometimes when you do that.

"We'll just need to get our parents to babysit more often, I'm sure Aiden will understand when he's older" Santana shrugs.

"I'd rather he didn't understand his parent's sex life when he's older" I joke.

"You know what I mean" she says gently hitting me on the arm. "When he's older and has a girlfriend then he'll understand that times like this are important to a young couple and also extremely fun."

"He could have a boyfriend you know" I point out.

"Ok smartass, you know what I am trying to say" she replies, pinching my arm to annoy me. "Anyway why have we suddenly struck up a conversation when I was in the middle of something" she smirks.

"I have no idea so get back inside me" I say slightly forcefully.

"Ok baby" Santana winks.

* * *

Santana's POV

It's the last night of the vacation and we're all spending it together watching one of the shows the hotel put on. It's a kid friendly show so it's not the most exciting so I tend to find myself talking to some of the others since I'm bored.

"Hey Emma, how's your dating life at the moment?" I ask her. I know it's going to get a reaction out of her but I love winding her up and it's fun to do when I'm bored.

"It's fine not that it's any of your business" Emma states while glaring at me ever so slightly.

"You know if you let it be my business then I could hook you up on a date with someone that I know that really likes you" I say smiling.

"Santana I'm not in the mood for your jokes today" Emma sighs.

"This wasn't a joke, I was serious" I tell her.

"Fine, who did you have in mind for me?" she asks, turning to give me her full attention.

"Well do you see those two guys over at the bar?" I ask.

"The cute ones, how could I not see them" she replies excitedly. "So what one likes me or do they both and I have to pick which one I want?" she asks eagerly.

"No I'm not talking about those guys. I was pointing them out so you were looking in the right direction but the person that likes you is to their left" I say smiling.

"Ok…wait there is no one to the left" she says looking over and frowning.

"What do you mean there is no one, of course there is" I shake my head. "That woman over there is really into you and she keeps checking you out."

"You have got to be fucking kidding me" Emma says annoyed. "Firstly she's a woman and I don't go for that and secondly she's like 60" she sighs. "Do you know what, I don't need this right now so just don't speak to me for the rest of this vacation even though there's not much left."

"Come on Emma, I was only…"

"Go to hell Santana" she states before storming off.

"Honey, you know I love you right" Brittany smiles sweetly while sitting next to me.

"Of course" I smile back.

"Good so what I'm about to say is with love ok?" she asks and I nod. "What the hell did you just say to upset my sister?" she asks narrowing her eyes at me.

"I swear I was only teasing her like she and I always do but for some reason she got really upset by it and then stomped off like a petulant child" I say honestly.

"I'll go and see if she's ok" Brittany says standing up.

"No wait maybe I should go" I say feeling bad.

"No that might make her worse so if you really want to go then we'll both go" Brittany says and I nod. We then head over to where Emma went.

"Just leave me alone please" Emma says beginning to get teary.

"Honey what's wrong?" Brittany asks in concern while sitting down next to Emma and hugging her.

"It doesn't matter, it's not important" Emma sighs.

"It must be important if it's making you upset" I say genuinely. "Look I know we joke around and stuff but if I take things too far then just let me know."

"It's not necessarily you, it's just you brought up a touchy subject" Emma admits.

"Honey what's going on, talk to us" Brittany says worriedly.

"Everyone has someone here and I don't" Emma sighs.

"That's not true" I tell her.

"Who is single here then?" Emma asks, "and don't say your brother and Quinn because we all know they're at least somewhat together even if it's not official."

"Ok so maybe no one in our group but that doesn't matter" I say trying to make her feel better.

"It does matter when I'm sick of being single all the time and always dating guys who are bad for me" Emma states.

"You will find someone, you just can't rush it" Brittany says hugging her tighter.

"Exactly and I am serious though when I say I know someone that likes you and if you just give him a chance then maybe you'll like him too" I say honestly.

"You're not messing with her are you?" Brittany asks.

"No I promise" I smile.

"So who is he then?" Emma sighs.

"My business partner Artie" I smile.

"Wait a second…Artie likes me?" Emma asks confused and I nod. "He barely even knows me" she points out.

"That's because you don't give him the time of day sometimes but when you have been at the same event or something then he's tried to talk to you" I reply.

* * *

I know things haven't moved on yet but I just wanted to consolidate a few things first. There is going to be a time jump next chapter though so I can progress a bit with the story.


	26. New job, old obstacles

Chapter 26: New job, old obstacles

Santana's POV

Tuesday 12th January 2021

The past 6 months have really flew in and I can't believe we're at the beginning of a new year already. I mean Aiden's first Christmas is well and truly over now and Brittany has been at her new job for 5 months and she seems to be loving every minute of it. She did training for the first couple of months along with shadowing some of her colleagues but now she can work on her own. Things are really good with us as well because we're both happy with where we are in life now. We've got the careers we want and a beautiful little boy so we couldn't be happier.

I'm looking forward to the upcoming months because my birthday is today and then we have Aiden's birthday a week later. This will be Aiden's first birthday so Brittany and I are going to spoil him so bad. My birthday is just going to be low-key because it's in the middle of a working week just now but we're having a party at our house for Aid's birthday.

On Mondays I like to work from home so I can spend time with Aiden because I don't like how we're always working and he needs to be looked after by other people. Brittany and I want to be with him as much as we can be. Since my birthday falls on a Tuesday then I decided to make that the day I work from home and actually go into work yesterday.

I'm just lying in bed when Brittany comes skipping into the room. "Morning birthday girl" she smiles while jumping onto the bed and leaning over to kiss me.

"Hi" I smile when we pull away. "What time is it?" I ask looking around to find my alarm clock.

"9am but don't worry I've checked on Aiden and he's back in his crib at the moment" she replies. "I'll get him in a second and get him some breakfast" she tells me.

"Honey you don't need to do any of that because you're going to be late for work" I say sitting up quickly. "You should have woke me up and I'd have took care of things."

"I've took the day off today so relax" she smiles.

"Honey you didn't need to do that" I tell her honestly. I'm just happy we're getting Aiden's birthday off to spend with him so I'm not too bothered about mine.

"I wanted to because I don't want you at home on your own on your birthday" she smiles.

"I wouldn't be on my own though, Aiden would be here with me" I point out.

"I know but I wanted to be here too, ok?" she smiles before leaning in to kiss me again. "Now I've already showered so how about I get Aiden ready while you grab a quick shower and then we can have breakfast together and you can open your gifts" she suggests while climbing off the bed.

"Are you saying I smell?" I ask following her out of bed and hitting her on the ass.

"Maybe I am" she smirks.

"Well maybe I say you're being very mean to me on my birthday" I pout.

"You know I'm only teasing" she says pulling me towards her and wrapping her arms around me. "I just figured you'd want some time to get organised before all the family and our friends come over to give you your presents."

"Yeah I do, thank you" I smile while leaning up and she kisses me. "This is actually a really good birthday so far because you've kissed me like 3 times already and it's only 9 o'clock."

"Just think how many times I'll have kissed you before the end of the day then" she winks. "Anyway you go and get organised and I'll get Aiden. He's looking forward to giving you a birthday hug and kiss" she tells me.

After a quiet start to the day just spending it with Brittany and Aiden, the house began to fill up a bit by the afternoon. My friends and family are all here visiting me since it's my birthday and Brittany being the little sneak that she is, decided to throw me a surprise party. I mean it wasn't like a big surprise thing because I've been at home all day, she just didn't tell me until right before everyone arrived that we were all having a bit of a gathering.

"Look at my sexy wife, she's killing it in that dress" Brittany smiles while walking over to me and I wrap my arms around her. "Happy 21st birthday baby."

"Try adding another 10 years to that but thanks for the compliment anyway" I smile.

"You know my motto babe, you're only as old as you feel" she smiles.

"In that case I am 21 today" I say leaning in to kiss her.

"Yep and I'm still a sweet and innocent 18 year old" she tells me.

"There's nothing innocent about you right now" I smirk as I feel her edging higher and higher with her wandering hands. Soon enough her hands will be groping my breasts.

"As soon as we get Aiden settled in bed tonight, I've got another birthday present for you" Brittany whispers in my ear.

"Sounds good, I can't wait" I say before kissing her.

XXX

We've just got Aiden down now so Brittany and I are getting ready for bed. We're both working tomorrow so everyone left at a reasonable time and we just want a relaxing end to the night before it's back to normal tomorrow. Once I finish my nightly routine, I walk over to Brittany where she has just finished brushing her teeth.

"Thank you so much for my diamond bracelet, I love it" I say genuinely while leaning in to kiss Brittany. "It's been one of the best birthdays I've ever had and that's all down to you for making me feel so special."

"You mean everything to me Santana so I always want to make sure you're happy" she smiles back. "Making you feel special hasn't actually ended though, I have other plans for us right now" she says while giving me a flirty wink.

"I thought we were just going to go to bed since we have work tomorrow?" I say confused.

"Come on baby, it's your birthday and I'm not about to end the tradition of birthday sex" she smirks. "Unless you are too tired then we don't need to?"

"I'm never too tired for sex, believe me" I say while pulling Brittany closer before kissing her. "Let's move this to the bedroom" I say while leading Brittany out of the bathroom and into the bedroom.

"Come here baby" Brittany says pulling me closer to her. She kisses me gently before walking us back to the bed. As soon as the back of my legs hit the bed, I get onto it and pull Brittany with me. She straddles me and then leans down to kiss me again. After kissing for a few moments, we begin undressing.

"I am so turned on right now" I say while pulling Brittany down to kiss me.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Monday 18th January 2021

It's Aiden's 1st birthday today so we're having a party at our house and inviting all of our family, friends and some kids Aiden knows. I don't think he quite understands what's going on today but he knows something is and he's been excited to get some new toys. My parents and Brittany's parents have spoiled him so bad which is lovely but it makes him excited so then we need to deal with the repercussions. He was supposed to take a nap before the party began but all he wanted to do was play with his new things so it was hard to get him to go to sleep.

"Mom can you take a picture of us please?" I ask my mom while handing her my phone. There's only a few of the family here right now and everyone else will arrive shortly for the party.

"Of course I can" she smiles. "Are you all together?" she asks. I move in closer to Brittany with Aiden in my arms and Brittany puts her arm around me.

"We're ready" I smile.

"Mommy" Aiden says pulling onto Brittany's hair. He's only recently started to say proper words so Brittany and I were so overwhelmed the day he called us mommy. He said it to both of us which was really cute. Initially we were trying to teach him to call Brittany mommy and me mom but it means the same thing anyway so we just let him call us both that early on but he is starting to pick up on calling me mom a little bit more now.

"Just a second sweetheart, your grandma is taking a picture of us and mom" Brittany says smiling down at him.

"M-mom" he says turning to looking at me.

"Yes sweetie, mom is getting her picture taken too" I smile.

"Poop" he says laughing causing Brittany to laugh as well while I shake my head. Emma being the little wind up shit that she is taught him to say that so every now and again he blurts it out whether he needs to poop or not. I mean I don't always get bothered by it but when you're in public and he screams it across a restaurant or something, it's a little embarrassing.

"Babe don't encourage that right now because everyone will be here soon for his party and I don't want him shouting that in front of everyone" I say. Any time Brittany laughs at Aiden he picks up on it and he continues to do whatever he just did because he loves that Brittany finds him funny. Also Brittany laughing makes him laugh so it works both ways.

"Come on buddy, let's get grandma to take a photo of us" Brittany says taking a hold on Aiden's hand with her free hand. My mom then takes a few pictures.

"Ok how about a snap of you two kissing him" my mom suggests.

"Good idea, he loves my kisses" I smile while kissing his cheek.

"He's not the only one" Brittany whispers in my ear causing me to smile at her. She then leans forward and kisses the other side of Aiden's cheek and my mom takes a few pictures of us. We then get a few pictures of Aiden with his grandparents before some of the others turn up.

"Ok Aiden why don't you sit with your mommy for a moment while Grandma Lopez gets herself a drink" my mom says while placing Aiden in my lap. "Do either of you two want something to drink?" she asks.

"No thank you" Brittany politely replies.

"No I'm ok mom" I say and then my mom leaves the room. I then turn my attention to the birthday boy who I just can't get enough of tonight. "How old are you today?" I ask him.

"One" he screams while raising one finger in the air.

"That's right baby, you're 1 today" I smile at him.

"You better not ask him how old you are because we could be here for a while by the time he manages to count that high" Brittany teases.

"You're not funny baby" I state while giving her a playful glare.

"Anyway I'm going to make the rounds and see some of our guests, I won't be long" Brittany says before going to mingle with some guests. I remain where I am talking to Aiden for a while.

"Hi handsome" Emma says coming straight towards me.

"Baby don't be so loud with the compliments, I'm married to your sister remember" I tease.

"I'm talking to my nephew actually" Emma says glaring at me while lifting Aiden out of my arms.

"Well I didn't actually think you were talking to me" I reply sarcastically.

"Hey guys" Artie smiles as he approaches us. "Hey little man" he says turning to Aiden causing Aiden to get slightly excited. He not only likes having a lot of people around him but he's also got to know Artie a bit since I occasionally take him to work with me.

"Once you're finished with my son I'd like him back please" I say before turning to walk away.

"She is way too attached to Aiden" I hear Emma mumble causing Artie to laugh.

"I heard that and I'll turn back around and take him away from you" I warn. No one tells me how close to my son I should be.

"Do it and I'll tell my sister you won't let me spend time with my only nephew on his 1st birthday" Emma states seriously.

"Fine" I mumble before walking away. The last thing I want tonight is to be in Brittany's bad books so I'll just walk away right now.

"Hey baby, where's Aiden?" Brittany asks as I walk over to her.

"He's with your sister just now" I reply with a smile.

"Cool" she smiles back.

"Can you believe that little guy came into this world a year ago?" I ask Brittany as we fondly look over at everyone giving Aiden attention.

"I can believe I gave birth to him but I can't believe it's been a year already" Brittany replies.

"As much as I loved being there when my son was born, that was also a terribly frightening time for me. I thought I lost you at one point" I say shaking my head at the thought as chills run through my body just thinking about that horrible moment.

"But you didn't lose me though" Brittany says wrapping her arms around my neck and holding me closely to her.

"Yeah I know" I nod.

"Come on, put each other down please. You should be concentrating on celebrating Aiden's birthday and not on trying to give him a brother or sister" Scott jokes.

"No-no we're not doing that just yet" Brittany assures her brother. "Brothers and sisters are not in anyone's immediate plans right now."

XXX

"I think the party went quite well, Aiden seems to love all of the attention" I point out.

"He really did, didn't he?" Brittany says looking over fondly at him playing with one of his new toys on the floor.

"It's so cute how excited he gets when he sees certain people" I say while smiling at the thought.

"He gets the most excited when it's you though" Brittany smiles at me. "You're so good with him and he loves you so much."

"I love him so much too" I smile. "He always gets really excited to see you as well babe. You should hear him when I take him to work sometimes. We're in the car going home and he is always talking about wanting to see you."

"I know but there's just something so endearing about you two together. My heart literally melts whenever I see the two of you together and it's also really cute how much he looks like you. I mean I gave birth to him but he's literally a mini you" she smiles.

"Yes he looks a lot like me but he has some of your facial features and a lot of your personality" I tell her.

"Well I still love you both so much" she smiles.

"We love you too" I tell her with a smile.

"Come here baby" she smiles while pulling me closer to her so she can kiss me. Just as I feel her lips press against mine, I suddenly feel a tug on my pants.

"Brittany what are you doing?" I ask frowning at her.

"I'm trying to kiss you" she laughs.

"No I meant why are you pulling on my pants?" I ask.

"I'm not, that's Aiden…shit that's Aiden" she says screaming the last part when we both look down and see Aiden standing in front of us.

"Language Britt" I say surprised at her outburst.

"I'm sorry, I just got such a fright. He's never walked anywhere himself before" Brittany replies. Usually one of us is crowding around him to make sure he doesn't fall because he hadn't quite mastered the act of walking fully yet but clearly he just did a second ago.

"Can you walk for us again sweetheart" I say while moving to the other side of the room to see if he'll walk from Britt to me. "Walk to mom Aid" I say encouraging him.

"Yeah sweetheart, go and see mom" Brittany smiles at him. "You can do it honey" she tells him and after staring at her for a moment contemplating the idea, he suddenly begins walking over to me.

"That's my boy, I'm so proud of you" I say while picking him up and hugging him tightly.

"Wait for me" Brittany says hurrying over to us and joining in on the hug.

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Monday 1st February 2021

We're celebrating the third Lopez birthday in 3 weeks because Brittany is turning 23 today. She didn't want much of a fuss but I'm not going to completely ignore it altogether so I've made her a nice breakfast and Aiden and I are wearing customised t-shirts for the occasion. I'm working from home today and I manged to persuade Brittany to take the day off so it should be nice all spending it together.

"Happy birthday baby" I say leaning in to give Brittany a passionate kiss when she walks into the kitchen.

"Thanks" Brittany blushes.

"Hey look what Aid and I are wearing" I say while lifting Aiden up and stepping back so she can see the t-shirts we're wearing. "Aid's says 'happy birthday mommy, I love you' and mine says 'I have the sexiest wife on the planet' so what do you think?" I ask.

"I love them but I got to say I do feel slightly left out" she replies honestly.

"Say no more then because here you go" I say handing her a small gift bag. "Now you do have another present but this is just something fun" I say while she takes out what's in the bag.

"I love it, thank you" she says kissing both Aiden and I. it's a t-shirt like mine but it has a picture of the 3 of us on the front and says 'I love my family'.

"Morning Aiden" Brittany smiles at him while taking him from my arms.

"Mommy…biff" Aiden says smiling brightly at Brittany.

"Yes it is mommy's birthday" she tells him while softly kissing his head.

"Are you going to give mommy a birthday kiss" I ask him and he starts giggling getting excited because I'm talking to him. "Copy mom" I tell him while leaning in to kiss Brittany's cheek. He looks at me as if he's contemplating the idea so I kiss Brittany's cheek again. "Give mommy a birthday kiss" I tell him and then he suddenly copies what I was doing and wraps his arms around Brittany's neck.

"Thank you sweetie" Brittany smiles at him causing him to now kiss her lips. "Another one?" she asks causing him to giggle even more.

"Mom" he states bouncing in Brittany's arms.

"What is it baby?" I ask smiling at him. He doesn't verbally reply, he just leans in and kisses me this time.

"Thank you Aid" I smile at him.

"Mommy kiss" Aiden says smiling at me.

"Do you want me to kiss mommy?" I ask him.

"Mommy wants you to kiss mommy" Brittany smirks.

"Alright then" I say before leaning in to kiss Brittany on the lips. As soon as I do it, Aiden begins clapping his hands together. "So now that all the birthday kisses are done, do you want some breakfast?" I ask Brittany.

"I would love some" she smiles at me.

"Good because Aiden and I are just about finished making us all breakfast, isn't that right baby?" I say while leaning down to Aiden.

"Food" Aiden screams in excitement.

"Yes we were making food but now I want you to spend time with mommy while I finish making breakfast" I tell him and he smiles at me before turning to Brittany and looking at her. He has one arm around her neck while he plays with her hair with his free hand.

"I never actually asked, what is it that we're eating babe?" Brittany asks curiously, momentarily taking her attention away from Aiden.

"Pancakes, bacon and maple syrup" I smile in reply. "Aiden and I made the pancake batter ourselves so now I'm just cooking them."

"Aren't you a clever boy helping mom make pancakes" Brittany says smiling at Aiden.

"He was very helpful" I say tickling his chin causing him to giggle.

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Wednesday 10th February 2021

Brittany and I were both working today so we're now finally sitting down to dinner together with Aiden. My mom wasn't working this week so Aiden has been spending most of the week with her when Brittany and I are at work. He seems to settle really well with my mom which is good and it's also nice when Harry is there too because Aiden likes being around other children.

"You're very quiet, is your dinner ok?" I ask Brittany as I noticed she hasn't really said much since we got sat down and she hasn't really eaten a lot either.

"It's fine, I just don't…oh my god" Brittany screams in panic before rushing out of the kitchen and into the bathroom.

"Honey what's wrong?" I ask chasing after her taking Aiden with me.

"Don't come in here" she shouts while shutting the door behind her. Just as I'm about to leave, I hear her throwing up. I'm just praying right now that there was something in the food and its just food poisoning. Obviously I don't really mean I want her to have food poisoning but what I mean is I'd rather it was a 24 hour thing and it's not her issues with food flaring up again. This isn't actually the first night I've noticed her not eating as much as usual.

"Do you want me to get you anything?" I ask through the door.

"No thank you, I'll be out in a second" she replies and then I hear the toilet flush. I patiently wait outside the door for her even though it takes her a few more minutes to come out. I'm guessing she wanted to brush her teeth to get the taste out of her mouth.

"You ok" I ask her while putting my arm around her.

"Yeah" she replies quietly while nodding. "I think I might just go for a lie down though if that's ok because I can't face any more food" she tells me and I nod.

"Mommy?" Aiden frowns while holding his hands out to her. I'm guessing he can sense something is not right just now.

"Mommy is feeling a little funny right now so just you stay with me" I smile at him.

"Mommy" he replies before beginning to cry.

"Aiden, honey" Brittany sighs while taking Aiden from me. "Mommy needs a little nap right now but stay with mom and help her clear up dinner."

"Mommy" Aiden says continuing to cry.

"Aiden come on son, you need to stay with me" I say taking him from Brittany. It literally breaks my heart when he cries like this but Brittany needs rest right now to feel better.

"Aiden naps" he says crying while putting his hands out to Brittany again.

"Ok you can nap with mommy" Brittany says giving in.

"Brittany you need rest, I don't know if that's a good idea" I tell her. Usually I'm the one that let's Aiden do whatever he wants and Brittany is slightly stricter but I need to put my foot down here because it's obvious Brittany isn't well.

"Santana I just don't have the energy to argue with him right now so if it makes him happy to lie down with me then fine" Brittany replies while taking Aiden from me again.

"Ok well I'm going to clear up but can I get you anything, do you want some water maybe?" I ask.

"Yeah I'll have some water" Brittany nods.

"Ok well you go upstairs with Aiden and I'll bring you some water up in a second" I tell her and she nods. "I love babe" I say kissing her cheek before she leaves.

Once I get Brittany some water, I head straight upstairs. I walk into the room and it's the cutest sight I've ever seen. Brittany is lying in bed on her side with Aiden lying quietly in front of her but facing her. He is stroking her face, smiling brightly at her.

"Aid you should be napping" I tell him.

"Mommy sad" he says looking up at me before wriggling even closer to Brittany.

"Mommy is not feeling well right now so she needs to nap and so do you" I say. "Mommy is going to be there the whole time so why don't you close your eyes sweetheart and go to sleep."

"Mom…nap" Aiden says looking at me again.

"You want me to nap too?" I ask while getting on the bed lying at the other side of Aiden.

"Mommy…sleep" Aiden says while putting his hands towards Brittany's eyes and pushing her eyelids down with his finger.

"Don't do that honey" I say laughing while pulling Aiden closer to me.

"You may laugh Santana but until you've had someone poke their finger in your eye then you'll never understand" Brittany says playfully glaring at me.

"Come on sweetheart, try and go to sleep. Just copy what mommy does ok" I say trying to encourage Aiden to sleep.

"Yeah let's sleep Aid" Brittany says closing her eyes. Aiden stares at her for a few moments and eventually moves a little closer to her and closes his eyes. I stay awake the whole time because I don't want us both sleeping and Aiden to wake up and crawl out of bed himself. He's very active just now and there are no safety measures like he has in his cot so I can't risk it.

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Friday 19th February 2021

Even though it's Friday and I've got the full weekend off, I'm not in the best of moods tonight. There has been something going on with Brittany for a while now and she won't accept it. She's been off her food and throwing up for about nine days now and to be quite honest I've had enough. She refuses to admit there's anything wrong when clearly there is. I'm absolutely beside myself with worry because I don't know if she's reverting into old habits again.

"Can you sit down please?" I ask Brittany when she walks into the kitchen.

"Sure but I thought you needed help making dinner. I can't really be of much help if I'm sitting down" she replies confused.

"Dinner preparations can wait because you and I need to talk" I say seriously.

"You're sexy when you pull that face" she smirks.

"This really isn't the time Brittany because I am so not in the mood" I state, shaking my head. "I need to have a serious and mature discussion with you."

"Ok that's fine but lose the tone please, you're talking to your wife not a misbehaving child" she replies while folding her arms and looking at me. "Fire away about whatever it is then" she says after a few seconds of silence.

"Ok well I'd like us to talk about what's going on with you at the moment" I say while pulling out a chair and sitting down at the table with her.

"That's fine but there's not really much to say" Brittany frowns in confusion.

"I think there is a lot to say so tell me about your week, what's been going on?" I ask. "Anything new you want to share with me or anything you think we should discuss since Aiden is with your brother and my sister so we have the opportunity to really talk about things?"

"Honestly there's not much to say. I've been going to work the same as you and we've been parenting Aiden together like we always do" Brittany replies with a shrug.

"Is that it?" I ask, hoping she'll continue.

"Um…I did win some money on a scratch card the other day but I just put it straight into Aiden's piggybank" she shrugs.

"Babe let's just cut to the chase and stop this charade" I say shaking my head and leaning forward to take her hand in mine. "Why have you stopped eating and started making yourself sick again?" I ask bluntly.

"Why have I done that, let me think for a moment" she says pretending to ponder the thought. "Oh yeah, because I haven't actually done that" she snaps while narrowing her eyes to glare at me.

"Don't make me out to be in the wrong here Brittany because there's something going on with you and you know that. I'm only doing this because I care about you and I'd hate something to happen to you" I state.

"Santana you are blowing this way out of proportion" Brittany sighs.

"We talked about this before Brittany and you went to see a specialist about it so what's going on? Why are you doing this again?" I ask beginning to get frustrated. I know it's harsh but I don't know how else to deal with this.

"I swear Santana, I didn't make myself sick" she pleads.

"Then why was there a little bit of sick on the floor this morning in our bathroom?" I ask. "I know Aiden gets sick from time to time but he's never in our bathroom so we both know it can't be him" I state.

"Ok yes I was sick again today but no I did not make myself" she states annoyed. "Hand on my heart, I am not doing this on purpose."

"Brittany I'm really struggling to deal with this because I don't know how to handle things anymore and you refuse to go back to the specialist" I sigh.

"I promise you, you have to believe me when I say none of this is on purpose" she pleads.

"I want to honey but you did have a problem before so I can't help but worry" I sigh.

"I've probably just ate something weird and it's taking a while to get out of my system, that's all" she smiles.

"I really think its more than that Brittany and I think we should talk to someone about it" I say honestly. We all know I'm not the best in handling these kind of situations because Brittany and I just get into a fight but I do think we need someone else to help us get through this.

"Santana I know I lied before but I promise you this is different this time. I have a loss of appetite because I'm sick all the time, it's not because I don't want to eat. I mean do I look any thinner to you?" she asks.

"I'm so scared Brittany" I admit as tears begin to form in my eyes. "You collapsed the last time and I don't want something else to happen this time and end with a different result. I need you in my life Brittany and Aiden needs you too."

"I know you're getting upset right now Santana but I can't comfort you right now because what you're doing to me is upsetting me. I'm telling you honestly that none of this is on purpose and you won't listen to me" Brittany says looking away.

"Even if it's not on purpose don't you even want to see someone about this?" I ask. "You been sick for over a week now and you don't seem as if you're getting any better so doesn't that worry you?"

"I have a bug and that's it Santana, stop being so damn dramatic" Brittany states before standing up and walking out of the room shaking her head. I just remain where I am trying to take deep breaths to calm down because Aiden will be home within the hour and I can't have him know there's anything wrong or anyone is upset.

As soon as Aiden does get home, Brittany and I act as if everything is normal until Scott and Eva leave. Once they do leave, Brittany takes Aiden upstairs to change his clothes and I make a start on dinner. They then both join me in the kitchen.

"Show mom what uncle Scott bought you today" Brittany says smiling down at Aiden.

"Mom car" Aiden screams in excitement.

"Oh wow, it's a lovely car. Do you know who else has a car just like that?" I ask him enthusiastically.

"Mommy" he smiles brightly.

"That's right, mommy's car is just like that" I smile back before leaning down to kiss him. "I missed you today Aid, did you miss mommy and me?" I ask him.

"Yeah" he nods slowly.

"Did you have fun though with Uncle Scott and Auntie Eva?" I ask but before he can reply I hear Brittany speak up.

"Santana watch that pot, it's going to boil over" Brittany states.

"Oh sh…sugar" I say rushing over to the pot. Brittany and I are really trying hard not to swear around Aiden so we tend to use alternatives to bad words but I almost swore in front of him there.

"Do you need some help in here because I can put Aiden in his playpen if you want and help you?" Brittany asks.

"No I'm fine thank you, dinner is almost ready" I reply.

"Ok" Brittany nods before turning to go over to the table to sit with Aiden. As soon as dinner is ready, I plate it up while Brittany sets Aiden in his highchair and begins cutting up his food for him. "Doesn't this look good Aid" she smiles at him while picking a piece of chicken up off his plate and handing it to him. He grabs it from her and quickly eats it.

"Slow down baby" I say laughing at him. "Remember we don't want you to choke."

"Mommy, mom eat" he says looking at Brittany and then me.

"I'm eating sweetheart" Brittany smiles at him while putting a forkful of her food in her mouth.

"Yeah I'm eating too honey" I say, also putting some food in my mouth. Surprisingly Brittany and I manage to get through dinner ok even though we weren't really talking to each other. It probably helped that we had Aiden there to distract us.

"Since its Friday, does Aiden want a little treat tonight?" Brittany asks him while taking him out of his highchair since we've finished tidying up now.

"Treat" he screams excitedly while smiling at Brittany.

"How would you like to watch some TV with mom and I for a little bit before bed?" Brittany asks Aiden while bouncing him on her hip slightly as we make our way through to the living room.

"Yeah Aid, let's all spend some time together" I say leaning down to kiss him when Brittany stops walking. "You can even pick what we watch if you want as long as mommy is ok with that" I say looking over at Brittany.

"Yeah you pick what we watch Aid" she smiles at him.

"So what would you like to watch Aiden?" I ask while sitting down on the couch. "It could be a movie or we could watch something…"

"Quick Santana, you need to take him" Brittany says sitting Aiden in my lap before rushing out of the door towards the downstairs bathroom. No prizes for guessing why she's going there. As I make my way through to make sure she's ok, it's just as I thought. I can hear Brittany being sick again. This whole thing really has to be addressed now because we can't keep living like this. Obviously I don't like her being sick but what is even more frustrating is that she won't talk to me about it. If her problems have arose again then we'll deal with them but if she can't at least open up to me then how can I help.

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Saturday 20th February 2021

"Hi" Brittany says coldly while walking into the room. She has just gotten back from doing some shopping at the mall with Emma.

"Hi" I say just as coldly back. "So uh…I got a text from some friends I used to go to college with who are in town and they asked me out for a drink tonight. You haven't got any plans tonight, have you?" I ask.

"No not tonight" Brittany shakes her head while sitting down on the couch opposite me.

"So is it cool if I go and you look after Aiden then?" I ask.

"Yeah that's fine" Brittany nods. We fall into a silence for a few minutes before Brittany speaks up again. "Look I don't want to argue right now but I won't be having any dinner tonight, Emma and I had a big lunch and it was rather late so I couldn't manage anything any time soon."

"Fine" I nod.

"If you really don't believe me then ask Emma. I ate like almost all of it and I haven't thrown up since before I left this morning" she tells me. "I promise Emma has been with me every second of the day today so she knows the truth."

"I'm not going to check up on you Brittany" I state. Yes this thing does still scare me to death but I'm going to let it go for tonight because I don't want to ruin my night with my friends. "Anyway I better go and get ready for my night out. I'll shower first but I won't be long if you want me to make Aiden his dinner before I get dressed."

"No I'll get Aiden his dinner, you just concentrate on you" Brittany smiles. This is probably the first time she has smiled at me since yesterday.

"Thanks" I reply while heading towards the door to leave.

"Where is Aiden by the way?" she asks noticing he's not in the room.

"I put him down for a nap in the study because he was getting really tired but the monitor is here in case he wakes up" I tell her while passing her the monitor.

I pretty much spend the next couple of hours upstairs by myself. Once I had my shower, I looked out something nice to wear and then I started on my hair. I then did my make up while listening to some music before finally getting dressed.

"I'm leaving now, I'll see you later" I tell Brittany as I walk into the living room where she is sitting with Aiden reading him a book.

"Ok" she nods. "Say bye to mom Aid" she says holding Aiden towards me.

"Bye…mom" Aiden says slowly. He sometimes struggles to say certain words together because he's still learning to talk properly but I'm really proud of how he's coming along.

"Can mom get a kiss?" Brittany asks him as I lean forward pressing my lips together.

"Kiss" he screams excitedly before kissing me.

"So I'll see you later" I say looking at Brittany.

"Yeah, have fun" she smiles briefly. As I go to lean down and kiss her, she turns her head away so I catch her cheek.

"Right…uh goodbye" I say awkwardly before leaving.

XXX

The night out with my friends was so much fun and I really enjoyed catching up with everyone. We went to a few different bars but I didn't drink all that much. I mean I had enough to have fun but I didn't want to get too drunk because I didn't want Brittany dealing with Aiden and a drunk me. I'm not any harm to anyone when I'm drunk but I am very needy and that's the last thing Britt will want when we have a one year old to take care of. Plus I found out on our last vacation that dealing with a young child with a hangover is not easy whatsoever.

"Hey" I say walking into the bedroom noticing Brittany is still awake. "I thought you would be in bed asleep right now, not up watching TV."

"I know we're not exactly on the best of terms at this second but I couldn't go to bed until I knew you got home safely" she says while getting off the sofa we have in our room.

"I appreciate that" I say blushing slightly.

"I will go to bed now that I know you've home safely" she says while climbing into bed. "Are you going to bed soon?" she asks looking over to me.

"Yeah but I need to get ready first" I reply before going into the bathroom. I take my makeup off, change and then brush my teeth. I quickly put some pyjamas on and head back into the bedroom.

"Santana don't be silly, just come to bed please" Brittany sighs as she notices me heading towards the couch.

"But I slept here last night and we're not any further forward on anything" I point out.

"I know but I didn't want you sleeping elsewhere last night, I was just too tired to argue with you so I let you sleep there but please just come to bed tonight" she says.

"Ok" I nod before making my way over to the bed and getting in. Brittany and I lie facing the opposite directions from each other. I'm not used to lying so far away from Brittany in bed so eventually I find myself drifting closer to her. I think she does the same because we end up almost touching so we both turn around to lie facing one another. We stay quiet for a few moments just looking into each other's eyes.

"You looked really sexy tonight in your dress" Brittany says breaking the silence.

"Thanks" I smile.

"You wanna have sex?" Brittany asks. I immediately want to say yes but I don't know if she's serious or not.

"Is this a trick question?" I ask. "Like you're not going to say I'd rather have sex than deal with our problems, are you?" I ask.

"I know we're fighting right now but it doesn't mean you don't look so sexy right now" she replies. "I seriously want to rip your clothes off and…" I don't let her finish her sentence, instead I lean in and kiss her passionately.

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Sunday 21st February 2021

Here we are again, a day later and Brittany is still being sick. We've just finished a late breakfast and are getting Aiden ready for the day. As I began dressing Aiden, Brittany had to rush to the bathroom and was sick again. She's just entered the room and is helping me put Aiden's pants on.

"You ok?" I ask looking up at her.

"Yeah" she sighs. "Babe I swear I'm not doing this on purpose this time" she states. "I'll go to the doctor if you want and you can come with me to see for yourself because this has to be some kind of bug I have."

"Britt I believe you" I sigh. How can I not believe her, she's my wife and she seems adamant this time that none of this is her doing. I mean I've been extra vigilant the last 2 days and I've got to say there's times where she eats loads and doesn't even go to the bathroom. Also not that Brittany is big or anything because she most certainly isn't but I have noticed a little weight gain in the last few days despite her being sick so much.

"You're not just saying that are you babe?" she asks.

"I'm not" I shake my head. "We have to learn to trust each other so I trust you Britt but if there is anything you need to talk about then I want you to come to me. I know I don't understand things well but I want you to be able to at least give it a shot."

"I promise to talk to you if there is anything" she smiles.

"Good" I smile back.

"I would kiss you right now but I need to brush my teeth first" she smiles.

"That's ok" I smile back before giving Aiden my attention again.

XXX

I've just got Aiden down for his afternoon nap so now I'm going to see what Brittany is up to. When I walk into the bedroom, I notice her lying in bed so I decide to join her.

"Hi baby" I say slipping into bed behind Brittany. "Oh you're nice and warm" I point out as I snuggle into her and wrap my arms around her.

"Hey" she replies while turning her head to give me a brief smile.

"I've just got Aiden to sleep and you're already in bed so…" I smile while leaning over Brittany to reach her lips so I can kiss her.

"I'm sorry babe, I don't really feel in the mood right now" she replies giving me an apologetic smile.

"That's ok, we can just cuddle" I shrug happily. "You know I like sex but I also like just lying in bed with you cuddling so I'm good with that."

"Thank you" she smiles. We lie in silence for the next few minutes and I'm starting to get the feeling something else just isn't right with Brittany. I know she said she would talk to me and I believe her but she is unusually quiet right now.

"Are you feeling ok apart from being sick?" I ask while feeling her forehead to see if she has a high temperature. For some reason she looks worse than she has been the past few days which is really concerning.

"Not really if I'm honest" Brittany sighs. "I've been feeling off for a few days now. In the beginning it was just the sickness but now other things have become apparent recently"

"Are you on your period maybe?" I ask.

"No not yet, I just don't feel right" she replies. "I feel tired, I'm still being sick and parts of my body are beginning to get really tender when they're touched."

"Oh honey" I say hugging her tighter.

"Anyway what are you up to babe?" she asks with a smile.

"I had planned on going a run but I don't want to leave you yourself when you don't feel well and have Aiden to look after" I reply.

"Honey I'll be fine, if you want to go for a run then that's cool with me. It might actually make me feel better seeing you all dressed in your tight sexy running attire" she smirks.

"Ok" I laugh. "If you want me to come home then just call me because I'll have my phone with me."

"I will so go" she smiles while leaning up to kiss me.

"Bye honey" I say before grabbing my running clothes and taking them to the bathroom to change so I don't disturb Brittany any more than I already have. I take off on my run and I'm about half an hour in when suddenly my phone vibrates. I quickly unlock the screen to see what it is when I notice a text from Brittany so I read it right away.

From Brittany: EMERGENCY, COME HOME!

* * *

So what's wrong with Brittany?


	27. Tough Decisions

Chapter 27: Tough Decisions

Santana's POV

As soon as Brittany text me, I ran straight home. I mean I know I was already out running but I mean I really sprinted home to her. I have no idea what's going on but I don't want to waste any time in finding out because it seemed really serious. As soon as I make it in the door, I quickly grab a bottle of water. I'm still really out of breath but that doesn't stop me running upstairs to find Brittany. I walk into our bedroom and I don't see her until I notice the en suite light on so I walk into the bathroom and there she is standing at the sink in tears.

"Honey what's going on, are you ok? Is Aiden ok? Are your parents ok? Are my parents ok?" I rush out before taking a deep breath to calm down.

"No I'm not ok" she says bursting into tears while leaning against the door and sliding down it.

"Oh honey" I say in concern while rushing over to her. I sit down on the floor next to her and wrap my arms around her. "What's going on babe?"

"I can't do this Santana, I can't" she sobs uncontrollably.

"Can't do what baby?" I ask but it makes her cry even more. "I'm sorry, what did I say?"

"I'm not ready for this" she says through tears.

"Honey please tell me what's going on so I can understand and I can help you" I say, still hugging her tightly.

"The reason I have been so sick lately is because I'm pregnant" she sighs while shaking her head before pulling out of the hug to look at me.

"Are you serious?" I ask in excitement before quickly stopping smiling when I notice Brittany doesn't find any of this topic exciting. "Why aren't you happy about it?" I ask slightly confused. I mean we're having another baby so what's so bad about that. We've always wanted more children and now it means Aiden will have a brother or sister to play with.

"I can't be pregnant right now Santana, I just can't" she says as tears roll down her face once again. "I love Aiden so much but I can't do this, it's just too much" she's beginning to freak out now.

"But…"

"Santana this is all too much for me. I've barely got over my last pregnancy and now look what's happened" she says taking a deep breath.

"Look are you sure you're pregnant then?" I ask because I haven't been gone long so I don't know how she has suddenly just found out.

"No I made it up because I wanted to torture myself because I didn't think I had been through enough recently" she replies, narrowing her eyes to glare at me.

"Don't take that tone with me Brittany, I'm not a child" I state annoyed.

"Then stop asking me obvious questions" she replies annoyed. "Do you really think I'd be in such a state if I thought there was a possibility this was a false alarm?"

"You're right, I'm sorry" I say apologetically. I guess she does have a point because she wouldn't freak out over nothing so I'm sure she has took a few pregnancy tests to double check. "Look let's just take a minute to calm down and then we can talk, ok?"

"Ok" Brittany nods.

"You go and sit down on the bed and I'll be back in a second, I'm just going to check on Aiden" I say while standing up and then holding out my hand to pull Brittany to her feet.

"Ok" Brittany sighs while walking over to the bed. I then make my way to Aiden's bedroom. As soon as I walk into the room, he's lying so peacefully just sleeping. He has his hands wrapped tightly around his favourite teddy bear in front of him.

"Mommy and I are right next door talking, I'll come back and check on you soon" I whisper to him so I don't wake him. "I love you sweetheart" I say while gently kissing his head before tiptoeing out of the room back to my bedroom.

"Is Aiden ok?" Brittany asks as soon as I walk into the room.

"He's fine, he's still sleeping peacefully" I reply, smiling at the thought of my cute little boy.

"Good" Brittany smiles.

"So let's talk, huh" I say while sitting down on the bed next to Brittany.

"Yeah" Brittany replies quietly while nodding. "I don't know where to start really, it's all so confusing for me right now" she sighs while looking at me.

"Let's start from the beginning, I went out for a run and then what happened?" I ask trying to get an idea of how she found out and what made her even think she might be pregnant in the first place.

"Well I fell asleep initially right before you left but then I woke up needing the bathroom. It must have been like 10 minutes after I heard you leave the house" Brittany starts. "I got up and used the toilet and then out the corner of my eye I saw my birth control pills just sitting by the sink. I didn't really take much notice of them, instead I just picked them up and put them back to where they belong in the cabinet."

"Ok" I nod indicating I'm following what she's telling me.

"It wasn't until I put them away properly that I noticed a box of unopened tampons at the back. As soon as I saw them it reminded me about earlier when you asked me if I was on my period" she replies.

"Oh, ok" I nod kinda seeing where this might be going.

"Then it suddenly clicked that it had been ages since I last was on my period so I quickly got a bottle of water and drank as much as I could so I had a full bladder again since I had just been to the bathroom, and then took a pregnancy test. I hoped I was just being stupid with my math and it hadn't quite been 4 weeks yet but it turns out I was right with my math" she says.

"I've only been gone 40 minutes now so how did you manage to go out and buy a test already especially when Aiden is still sleeping right now?" I ask curiously.

"I already had a pregnancy test" she replies. "There was one still in the bathroom from when we were trying to get pregnant before we had Aiden. I know it's been there a while but the expiry date on it was ok plus everything else adds up. The sickness, the tiredness, the body pain, not remembering my last period."

"I don't know why we didn't see this sooner" I say shaking my head.

"Me neither. I mean especially me, I should have picked up on things since I was the pregnant one and I've been pregnant before" Brittany points out.

"Can I just apologise babe for accusing you of relapsing with your eating disorder. I should have known that wasn't what was happening" I say sincerely.

"Don't worry about that right now, we have bigger fish to fry" Brittany sighs. "Plus all the sickness wasn't exactly in the morning and it was often after I ate so I do see where you were coming from."

"So what are we talking, week wise I mean?" I ask.

"I think I'm about 7 weeks along" she replies. "I mean it's been about that since I last had my period and the sickness did start around last week and it usually starts around 6 weeks."

"Yeah I guess that does make sense" I nod in agreement.

"The big issue now though is where to go from here" Brittany admits.

"Yeah" I reply. Of course I know where I want to go from here but I think its obvious Brittany isn't at the same place as me right now. I can tell she's terrified and doesn't think she could mentally cope with this right now.

"I want to have more children with you Santana, I do, but I don't know if I can really handle this right now" Brittany admits. I can tell she's being genuine but it doesn't mean it makes me worry any less. Brittany is pregnant with my baby and she doesn't want to be, it's not a great feeling right now.

"I understand what you're saying but you've got 9 months to feel better about things" I reason. "Plus you'll have me and your whole family with you every step of the way."

"It's not just when the baby comes, it's the things pregnancy does to me too and the fact I have a baby growing inside me for months. I need to take care of that baby as well as myself and as we can see I wasn't doing a very good job of looking after me so what am I going to be like with a baby too" she says.

"Perhaps it's worth revisiting the specialist we saw before we make any rash decisions" I suggest.

"Yeah maybe it is" she shrugs. "Or we just work out things on our own?"

"Somehow I don't see that happening any time soon" I point out.

"Please don't be mad at me right now Santana, I don't need it" Brittany sighs while getting off the bed and going over to the bathroom.

"Britt don't walk away from me right now when we're talking" I say softly so as not to cause an argument right now.

"I'm not walking away from you Santana, I'm brushing my hair but I can still hear you talking to me" she replies.

"Ok" I nod.

"Look maybe we shouldn't talk right now anyway. I think we're both confused and our emotions are everywhere right now. Well I mean I know mine are so maybe we should give it some time before we get into a big discussion about this" Brittany suggests.

"I don't mind giving you space but we can't drag it out either. We will have to properly talk soon" I say.

"I know and we will, just leave it until after dinner though" she states while walking back into the room.

"Ok that's fine, we'll wait until we've eaten" I say.

XXX

Brittany and I spent most of the afternoon apart. I checked a few things over for work tomorrow before spending time with Aiden while Brittany went downstairs to the study to look over some notes for a new patient. She likes to be really familiar with the patient's case and what kind of injuries require rehabbing.

"Britt can I come in?" I ask while knocking on the door of the study.

"Yeah" I hear Brittany faintly reply so I open the door and walk in.

"Mommy" Aiden screams excitedly at Brittany.

"Hi honey" she smiles while putting her pen down on the desk and standing up to take Aiden from me. "What have you been doing?" she asks him.

"Cars" he replies while bouncing in Brittany's arms.

"Did you play cars with mom?" she asks him and he nods enthusiastically.

"So Aiden is starting to get hungry so do you want some dinner just now or shall I just make Aiden's and we can eat later?" I ask Brittany.

"I don't mind eating just now so we don't need to bother with the hassle of cooking two dinners" Brittany replies.

"Ok" I nod.

"Do you need any help with dinner?" Brittany asks looking over at me.

"No it's fine but perhaps you could just keep an eye on Aiden for me because it's not really the kind of dinner he can help with tonight" I say.

"Yeah that's fine" Brittany smiles at Aiden. "Why don't you and I go outside and you can see what a real car is like? You can sit on my knee and I'll tell you all about my car."

"Car" Aiden yells while clapping his hands together in excitement.

"Will you just come and get us when it's time for dinner?" Brittany asks me and I nod. "Cool, right let's go little guy" she says bouncing Aiden a little before carrying him to the garage.

As soon as I prepared dinner, I went to get Brittany and Aiden. They quickly washed their hands while I plated up the food before we all sat down together to eat. I was expecting dinner to be slightly awkward but as usual we had Aiden to distract us so it wasn't as bad as we thought. Once we had finished, we cleared up and then played with Aiden for a little while before taking him upstairs.

"Ok it's bath time honey" I say as Brittany follows me into the bathroom with Aiden.

"No" I hear Aiden quietly mumble.

"Honey you need to take a bath so you're all nice and clean" Brittany says smiling at him. "Mom and I always take baths so don't you want to as well" she says trying to encourage him to do the same. He doesn't verbally reply, he just shakes his head.

"Come on sweetheart, we'll make it fun. Right mommy?" I say looking at Brittany.

"That's right, you can play with your water toys and we can watch the little ducks swimming in the tub next to you" Brittany smiles. "How does that sound?" she asks and he slowly nods his head.

"Good boy" I say kissing his head. "Now I'm going to take you from mommy and she's going to get you your car pyjamas to put on once you're done" I tell him.

"His car pyjamas haven't been washed yet babe" Brittany replies while handing me Aiden.

"Yeah the older ones haven't but I may have bought him some new ones the other day" I say nervously.

"Honey…." Brittany takes a deep breath. "I know he's your little boy and you love spoiling him but buying the same pyjamas he already has isn't really necessary. You're spending on things you don't need to."

"They're not the same because his old ones have blue cars on them but the new ones have red race cars on them" I point out.

"Ok, fine" Brittany shrugs. "I'll be back in a second with the pyjamas, you get the bath ready" she says before leaving the room. I know it maybe wasn't the best thing to buy something he basically already has but they were so cute I couldn't resist.

After bathing Aiden, we got him settled and stayed with him for a little bit until he fell asleep. Once we were sure he was fully asleep, we quietly left the room and headed to our bedroom.

"Alone again" Brittany says filling the silence between us. "I guess we should talk about…you know…what we need to discuss" she says not quite mentioning the word 'baby'. I guess it's a bit hard for her to say right now.

"Yeah we should" I reply quietly.

"I am so conflicted right now Santana" she admits. "Like I said before I do really want more children but what happens if I relapse now or after. I'm going to put not only myself in danger but your child as well. If my eating disorder returns then goodness knows what could happen, I mean I read up on my condition and similar ones and there's lots of stuff about liver failure and other internal organs shutting down."

"I don't mean to sound so blunt about this babe but didn't your eating disorder develop because you lost confidence in how you looked and you were worried about our relationship?" I ask.

"Yeah that was part of it" Brittany says frowning in confusion because she can't see where I'm going with this.

"But we worked through our relationship and you know I only love you" I say.

"Yes I know that but that doesn't mean I won't relapse due to other reasons. Once you have an eating disorder it's hard to say whether you'll ever truly be free of it. I don't want it to happen but pregnancy does a lot to you not only physically but mentally too" Brittany points out. "You can't always control things like that, sometimes they just affect you."

"I just feel that what your alternative is could be kinda drastic" I admit. I don't mean to be insensitive but this is a big thing we're talking about here. "What I mean is you'll have all the support you need around you and we'll do everything we can to help you."

"You just don't get it Santana" Brittany shakes her head. "I don't think I am mentally strong enough yet to go through something like this. If I end up not eating and doing stupid things then I could die."

"Brittany please don't say something like that" I say taking a deep breath.

"That's what could happen though Santana if I am not 100% with it mentally" she states. "Right now I'm not concerned but what happens further down the line and I start to hate how I look so I stop eating and then not only do I get sick but I've put our baby's life at risk?"

"I'll help you through it" I tell her.

"How will you help me though? I mean it's not like you can just transfer the baby from me to you so you're the one who is pregnant" Brittany sighs.

"I don't know what to say anymore" I admit.

"I don't know either because no matter what I do something isn't right. I don't go through with it and you're heartbroken and will resent me all your life and if I do go through with it then my eating disorder could return or I could have some other mental health problem" Brittany says.

"I think talking about this right now is way too soon" I admit. "Maybe we need time to process things and we can talk again in a few days" I suggest.

"I think that might be best" Brittany replies quietly while nodding in agreement.

"Just please promise me that you won't do anything without me" I say quietly.

"This situation is far from ideal at the moment but I would never ever do something without you, ok" she replies honestly.

"Ok" I nod.

It's times like these when I wish I was a real woman and could actually carry a baby. All our problems would be solved right now if I was the pregnant one because Brittany wouldn't need to worry about a thing and I would do all the work. We'd both be happy that way but I guess there's no point into thinking about it anymore because it's not going to happen like that. We need to focus on where we go from here.

* * *

Brittany's POV

The whole time I was at work today, I couldn't stop thinking about how I'm pregnant and how I have no clue what to do. I want to have Santana's children so bad but at the same time I don't think I could cope with how it affects me mentally. I can see now that every woman looks different and we should embrace what we have physically so I'm not concerned about that. I'm more concerned that I will get very stressed out being pregnant and handling a one year old at the same time. I know I don't have college anymore but I also haven't been in my job very long either so I still have stressful times.

My eating disorder wasn't even about food in the end, it was about being in control and I'm worried I'll go into that mind-set again if I get stressed. I'm also worried about taking time off after just starting my job. I haven't been there long and now I'm going to need to take maternity leave. Of course my family is my priority but this is the first time I can work full time and earn a decent salary to know I can provide for them. I don't want Santana working herself sick because she has me and 2 kids to take care of.

"Mommy!" Aiden squeals breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Yes buddy" I say smiling down at him as he plays with one of his toys on the floor.

"Mom?" he questions.

"Mom is not home yet sweetheart but she should be soon. Do you want to sit on my knee and we can look out the window for her coming home?" I ask him and he nods enthusiastically. "Come on then" I say as I place him on my knee and we turn to face the window.

"Doggy?" he asks looking up at me.

"Yes that was a doggy walking past" I smile at him. "Do you see anything else sweetheart?" I ask.

"Car" he replies while looking at me to see if he got it right.

"That's right there are lots of cars out there" I smile at him again. "Ok what else do we see?"

"Um…mom" he screams excitedly while pointing outside. Her car isn't in the drive so I lean closer and then I notice her car coming along the road.

"So it is, why don't we go outside and meet her?" I suggest before lifting Aiden up and we make our way outside. I stand by the door until Santana is parked properly before I walk over to her.

"Hi honey, did you miss me" Santana leans down to kiss Aiden before taking him from me.

"We've been watching out for you from the window but when Aiden saw your car coming along the road we decided to come out and greet you" I tell her.

"Cool" she smiles at me briefly before turning her attention back to Aiden.

"Shall I go and start on dinner now?" I ask.

"Yeah" Santana replies before opening the trunk of the car to get her stuff out.

"Here let me help you since you're holding Aiden as well" I say while grabbing her work bag and lifting it out of the car.

"That's heavy Brittany, I'll get that" she tells me while taking the bag from me.

"I could manage" I say while lifting her purse out instead.

"I know but I don't want you lifting anything heavy since…you know" she replies while gesturing to my stomach.

"I'm barely that far along so you don't need to worry about me lifting things right now" I point out.

"I know but it makes me feel better so just let me carry the heavier stuff" Santana says before closing the trunk of the car.

"Ok, fine" I say giving her a small smile.

"So has my handsome boy been behaving today?" Santana asks while bouncing Aiden slightly as we walk inside.

"Gillian said he was great today and he even managed to eat all of his snack this afternoon" I say while shutting the door behind us.

"Oh that's good" Santana smiles at Aiden before placing him down on the ground.

"Hey why don't I just make dinner and you spend some time with Aiden. I'll come and get you when dinner is ready" I suggest.

"As long as you don't need any help" Santana says looking over at me.

"No I can manage so you go and play with Aid" I assure her.

"Ok" she smiles before scooping Aiden up and taking him to the living room to play.

XXX

"So have you had any other thoughts about what we should do?" Santana asks hesitantly as we clear up from dinner.

"It's all I have thought about Santana but I can't say I'm any clearer on the situation" I sigh. "I want to be able to tell you I can do this 100% because I do want this baby, I just don't know if it's the right time though."

"There's never going to be a perfect time though" Santana states.

"I know that but this isn't even a relatively good time for me" I say. "We're going round in circles here Santana and I don't want that. I want us to figure out what the best thing to do is."

"Brittany this is an impossible decision to make, I don't think working it through will give us the answer. I think we just need to decide one way or another" she replies and I guess she maybe does have a point.

"Why are things always so hard" I say shaking my head. "Everything bad that can happen seems to always happen to us and I hate it. It always ends with you hurting and I don't want that."

"What do you mean?" Santana asks confused.

"Our life is like a frigging soap opera all the time, it's like you can never catch a break and 98% of the time I'm the cause" I state. "Without fail, it's always me that does this to you" I shake my head.

"I still don't know what you mean babe?" Santana states.

"Ok I've had an appendicitis; I turned down your marriage proposal; I didn't want a baby when you did; I didn't react the best in the beginning when Jennifer claimed you had a daughter; I now don't think I can handle being pregnant again. It's like you're the most perfect person in the world and I always find a way to bring you down" I say.

"Britt that is not true. Yes we've had our issues but they're never solely your fault I can assure you" Santana says moving closer to me. "The appendicitis wasn't your fault, it just happened. Yes I was worried about you but I wouldn't say it affected us in any way. Then the marriage proposal thing, you didn't turn me down you just postponed it. I like to think about it that if I hadn't proposed in the first place then neither of us would know how we felt about marriage so that was a good thing that I did propose. Also not being ready to have a baby wasn't a bad thing either because it showed you how much you did want one in the end. Lastly the whole Jen thing was no one's fault but hers. She just likes to cause trouble but she'll never bother us again."

"I appreciate you saying all that but there must be a reason we always have these issues" I sigh.

"There's no reason Brittany, that's just life. We should feel lucky that we both have each other and a family who loves us. I'm glad we've had the issues that we did because I'd hate to have other ones like going through a breakup with you" she points out.

"I suppose when you put it like that" I admit. "Although it doesn't help us with what we've got going on right now."

"Yeah I know" Santana nods.

"You really want this baby don't you?" I ask.

"I really do and I can't apologise for that" she admits.

"And I would never ask you to apologise honey" I tell her honestly. The last thing I want to do is terminate my pregnancy but at the same time what kind of mother would I be bringing a baby into this world when my mental health is not what it should be at the moment. It took me a while to realise what was going on with my situation and I don't want that to happen again. I don't know if I can risk putting a child through that.

"I have to admit, I really am struggling to see the other side of things because I thought you loved being pregnant with Aiden" Santana says.

"I did but seeing what happened after that and how much stress I was under then I don't know if I could cope with that right now" I say.

"Britt can't you see that all the things that's been happening recently are because of the pregnancy and not you. You weren't relapsing babe, you were just being sick because of the pregnancy" Santana tells me.

"I see that now but it doesn't mean something won't happen to me as the pregnancy moves on or even after it" I say honestly.

"I'll be here to support you though" Santana states.

"That's all good saying that but I just don't know if risking it is the right thing. What happens if your support just isn't enough for me?" I ask.

"I don't see why it wouldn't be" Santana frowns in confusion.

"Because it's not that simple" I reply. "You being there might not be enough because I might need to go back to my therapist so are we really sure we want to let things go that far right now?"

"I think you're panicking when you don't need to Britt" she replies.

"Trust me that is not the case right now" I state.

"Well maybe…"

"Do you know what, let's just not do this right now" I say shaking my head while standing up. "I can't fight with you right now Santana, I need to go" I say while walking to the hall and grabbing my car keys.

"Where are you going?" Santana asks while quickly following me.

"I need time Santana and you're not giving me it" I say, tears threatening to fall. "I'm trying to tell you how bad I feel about things and you won't listen to me. I know you want this baby Santana but it seems like you want it more than you want me right now."

"How can you say that to me?" Santana asks hurt.

"Because I am trying my hardest to open up to you and explain and you won't listen. How can you not see how you're making me feel?" I ask.

"Brittany I am trying, honestly" she sighs.

"Ok that's fine but I still need time I think to deal with all my emotions right now" I say. "I need a few hours to myself so just let me go please."

"Fine" Santana shrugs. "Walk out then and I'll just stay here worrying about you."

"Stop trying to argue with me Santana" I say before walking out the door. I know it's childish but we're clearly not ready for a mature conversation about this because neither can understand the other person's opinion.

XXX

"Hello, it's me" I shout to see if anyone is home as I walk into my parent's house. "Hey dad, is mom home?" I ask when he comes walking out of the living room.

"She is but don't ask me where she is" he chuckles. "I was watching some sports in here so I haven't really been paying attention to anything else."

"I'll go and look for her then, you go back to whatever game you're watching and I'll catch up with you later" I tell him.

"Ok sweetheart" he nods before going back into the living room to continue what he was watching. I search a few rooms downstairs before I find my mom in the sunroom doing some work. As I walk in she notices me.

"Hi darling" she smiles at me. Just seeing my mom's face is so comforting that I literally burst into tears right in front of her.

"Mom…I really need you" I reply in tears.

"Honey what's wrong, come and sit down" she says while walking over to me before guiding me to sit down next to her on one of the sofas. "What's going on sweetheart?" she asks while comfortingly rubbing my back.

"I'm not ready yet" I say as floods of tears come tumbling out of my eyes.

"Just take a breath and then we'll talk ok?" she says while continuing to rub my back. After a few minutes I eventually manage to calm down and feel like I can talk again. "So what's going on?" she asks while wiping away a stray tear from my cheek.

"I'm pregnant mom and I don't think I can handle it right now" I admit.

"Oh honey" she says hugging me tightly.

"I do really want more children but I don't think I can mentally handle it right now. After everything with my eating disorder and going to see a specialist then I don't think I'm fully recovered yet. I'm fine parenting Aiden but what happens with another young child thrown into the works" I say.

"I understand sweetheart" my mom nods.

"I'm such a bad parent aren't I?" I say looking at mom.

"You're not so don't ever think that. You are trying to do the best for your family" she assures me.

"Santana wants another child so bad and it's tearing me apart knowing it might not happen just yet" I say.

"Have you talked to Santana about it all?" she asks.

"Yeah we've talked but I don't think we understand how one another feels. She's struggling to see why I'm so worried because we fixed a lot of things in therapy and I'm struggling to see her point of view because I feel like this" I say. "I feel fine right now but it worries me that in time I will get sick again because I can't cope with the stress and pressure of it all."

"I can see why you need to really think about this honey and it's perfectly ok to think about your own health. I know you're pregnant right now but a baby needs their mom healthy and if you're not then 2 people aren't getting what they need. I know it sounds bad but it's better you're healthy right now and perhaps not have the baby then go through with it and both you and the baby are not well" she replies. That is exactly how I see it but at the same time I'm hurting an innocent baby.

"I can't do this to Santana though. It's like I need to choose between my health and Santana and I don't know what to pick" I sigh. "I want to give Santana more children more than ever. That's all she's ever dreamed of so how can I live with myself if I don't?"

"If it does come to it then Santana will understand. Of course she's going to be upset in the beginning but she'll see it was the best for both you and the baby" my mom says.

"What if she divorces me though, I can't live without her mom" I say in tears.

"Santana is not going to do that, trust me" my mom assures me while hugging me again.

"How do you know for sure?" I ask looking at my mom.

"Because I know how much she loves you and you know it too honey" she smiles.

After a long talk with my mom, I finally head home again. As soon as I walk through the front door, Santana comes rushing through to the hall. She doesn't say anything, she just watches me put my keys down and take my shoes off. When I walk into the kitchen to get some water, she quickly follows me.

"You've been away for a while, where did you go?" Santana asks finally breaking the silence. "I was really worried about you and you didn't answer my calls."

"I told you I needed time to think so I was hardly going to answer my phone" I reply while sitting down at the table.

"I'm going to ask you again, where did you go?" Santana asks starting to get annoyed.

"I went to talk to my mom" I say looking over at Santana. "I just needed to let my feelings out to someone else because this is our situation to deal with whereas my mom can see both sides."

"I guess that makes sense" Santana nods.

"It's getting kinda late so I want to kiss Aiden goodnight but I'll be back to talk to you ok?" I say.

"Yeah that's fine" she nods. "In fact I'll come upstairs with you because I need to get a few things ready for work that are up there."

"Ok" I say while making my way upstairs with Santana following me. She goes to our bedroom and I go into Aiden's room. "Hi sweetie" I whisper to him before leaning down to kiss his head. I just look at him for a second just thinking about how precious he is and how I love him so much. As I look at Aiden I can't help but think of this baby inside me so I gently place my hand on my stomach. "I know I'll regret it if I did it because you're one of the best things to ever happen to me Aid and I guess your little brother or sister would be too" I say. "You and your mom mean the world to me" I tell him.

I continue to talk to Aiden for a few minutes and just as I stand up to leave, I hear something behind me so I quickly turn around and there is Santana.

"God you gave me a fright" I say clutching my chest. "How long have you been standing there?" I ask trying to tiptoe out of the room so I don't wake Aiden.

"Just a few minutes" she smiles.

"So you heard pretty much everything that I was saying then?" I ask slightly embarrassed as we go back to our room.

"Yeah I did" Santana replies while closing the bedroom door.

"Ok" I say looking down at my feet.

"Babe come here" Santana says pulling me closer to her before wrapping her arms around me. "I love you so much Brittany and nothing will change that, absolutely nothing."

"Are you sure about that because I wouldn't like me very much right now" I admit.

"Listen to me, you are so important to me so if you don't think you can mentally handle this then I don't want you to" Santana says as tears begin running down her cheeks. "I would never want to put your health at risk so if I'm doing that then I want it to stop."

"I don't want to feel like this Santana" I say beginning to cry. Just seeing Santana cry made me cry because I hate upsetting her.

"I admit it's not an easy thing to take right now but I do understand Brittany" Santana says hugging me tighter. "I know I joke about getting older but we do have plenty of time to have more children" she says.

* * *

So what's going to happen now?


	28. Family of 4?

Chapter 28: Family of 4?

Santana's POV

Brittany, Aiden and I are all sitting at dinner together. Last night Brittany and I had a good talk about everything so I think we both understand now how we feel. We still haven't made a decision yet about what to do though. Hopefully we'll come to a conclusion soon because right now is one of the worst moments of my life. I clearly still want the baby but if Brittany really can't do it then I'll stand by her.

"How was work?" Brittany asks looking up from her plate.

"Ok I guess" I reply quietly, not really looking at Brittany. I know it sounds horrible but if I look at her then I'm going to burst into tears because it reminds me of the baby she is carrying. I was ok in the beginning but as we get nearer to making a decision then I get even sadder because we might not go through with the pregnancy. I can't afford to get attached right now to the baby due to obvious reasons so I'm trying to hold back as much as it pains me.

"Ok" Brittany nods.

"How was work for you?" I ask trying to make conversation so we're not sitting in an awkward silence.

"Just the same as you" she replies and I nod.

"Aiden seems to be finished and I'm not that hungry anymore so perhaps we should just tidy up" I suggest.

"Yeah we might as well" Brittany nods in agreement. Once we finish clearing up, we both play with Aiden for a little while before giving him a bath. "I've got some stuff to do down here so are you cool just putting him to bed if I say goodnight just now" she asks.

"That's fine" I reply. "Right sweetie, say goodnight to mommy" I say holding Aiden closer to Brittany.

"Night-night sweetheart" she smiles at him before leaning towards him. "Can I get a kiss please?" she asks pursing her lips together.

"Mommy" Aiden giggles before leaning forward and kissing Brittany.

"I love you" Brittany smiles at Aiden and kisses his cheek.

"Mommy, mom" Aiden says looking between us.

"No sweetheart, we say goodnight later because we're not going to bed right now" I smile at him.

"Anyway goodnight Aid" Brittany says kissing him once more.

"Ok I'll go and get him settled now, will you just be in here?" I ask looking at Brittany for a moment.

"I've got some notes to look over so I'll likely be in the study" Brittany replies.

"Ok" I nod before leaving with Aiden. "Do you want a song or will I read to you tonight?" I ask him as I get him settled in bed.

"Song" he replies excitedly so I begin to sing softly to him. He does quite like singing upbeat songs with me but since I'm trying to get him to sleep then I'm doing something slow and gentle. As soon as he does fall asleep, I quietly tiptoe down the stairs.

When I get downstairs, I go to the kitchen to get a drink but as I'm leaving I notice the door to the study wide open but there's no lights on. I thought Brittany said that's where she would be but I guess not. I take a look in the living room and she's not there so I check the bathroom and she's not there either. Just as I'm about to see if she's upstairs, I hear a faint noise coming from the dining room so I turn back and go towards there.

"Britt, are you crying?" I ask while walking into the dining room noticing Brittany sitting at the table with tear stained cheeks and a tissue in her hand.

"I'm fine, just ignore me" she says sniffling slightly.

"Britt what's wrong?" I ask in concern.

"I've noticed Santana" she states looking over at me.

"Noticed what?" I frown in confusion.

"You can't even look at me anymore and I can't stand that" she admits.

"Babe…" I rush over to sit next to her.

"I understand why you can't look at me but it still hurts a little bit" she shrugs.

"I really do understand both sides babe but I can't help struggling with it. I'm with you on whatever you decide but at the same time I'm trying not to let myself get too attached in case we decide it's not the best time to have a baby" I say honestly. "I can start to see you've got a slight bulge in your stomach so when I look at your stomach I get really sad in case things don't work out" I admit.

"Don't you think I feel the same?" Brittany asks. "I just need to look down and I see it or if I fasten a button on my jeans I can feel it."

"I'm so sorry" I say breaking down in tears.

"Baby what have you got to be sorry about?" Brittany asks confused.

"I'm not being the best wife right now. I'm putting myself before you and I am so sorry for that. I don't want you to do something you can't so please don't make a decision because of me. Do what you think is best" I say.

"You're not the best wife right now, you're the most amazing wife right now" she says smiling at me slightly. "I know it's hurting you and I can see you're trying to help me so I appreciate that. I'm not taking a jab at you when I say things, I'm just hurting and trying to explain."

"I know I'm not handling things well right now but I promise you whatever you decide, I will always be here for you. I'm not going anywhere Brittany, I'm just struggling right now" I admit.

"I'm struggling too so can't we struggle together?" Brittany asks.

"I think we are struggling together but just not in the same way so it's hard to relate to one another" I point out.

"I suppose that could be right" Brittany states.

"Come here" I say opening my arms and she moves closer to me. I then hug her tightly. "We're going to get through this eventually."

* * *

Brittany's POV

Friday 26th February 2021

Its break time at work and I'm just sitting quietly by myself. It's mainly because no one else is on a break right now but also because I think I need a little time to myself to gather my thoughts. I really can't put it off any longer so I'm going to need to make a decision very soon. It's hurting everyone right now so I think I just need one last good think about things and then I'll decide what's best.

"Mind if I join you?" my colleague Martin asks as he approaches the table.

"Of course not, sit down" I smile while gesturing to the seat across the table from me.

"Thanks" he smiles back while sitting down with his lunch. We both sit in silence for a few minutes just eating before Martin speaks up. "Are you ok Brittany?" he asks looking at me in concern.

"Yeah I'm fine" I reply with a fake smile because of course I'm not fine. I have to make the toughest decision of my life and depending on what we do then things between Santana and I could change. I know she says she's ok with whatever I do but she could still resent me in years to come.

"You seem awfully quiet and you don't look your usual happy self" he responds.

"I've just got a few things going on but I don't want to burden you with them so don't worry about it" I smile.

"If you need someone to talk to then I'm here. I know we don't know each other too well since we haven't been here long but I'd like to think we're somewhat friends" he replies. "We're the new kids remember so we should stick together" he smiles. We both got jobs here at the same time last year so we have sort of built up a friendship since we're the only two new ones.

"Honestly I appreciate it but I'd rather not talk about it right now" I smile. I'm grateful that he's there for me if I need it but I'd rather just leave this between Santana and me right now. "Anyway enough about me, how are you?" I ask. "I know you were off with some personal reasons so is everything ok now?"

"It is but it isn't if that makes sense" he says chuckling slightly. "My girlfriend and I went through a rough patch but we're learning to cope a bit better now. I mean we're not in an ideal place but I think the worst has passed."

"I see" I nod following what he's saying. "What happened if you don't mind me asking?"

"My girlfriend miscarried our baby" Martin replies.

"I am so sorry to hear that" I say sympathetically.

"We've been really struggling to get pregnant and we finally thought this would be our happy ending" he tells me and I can't help but tear up. Damn these pregnancy hormones are making me emotional.

"Hey it's ok" he says putting a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I'm just in a really emotional time in my life right now" I say wiping the tears away. "It should be me though that is comforting you not the other way around."

"It's ok" he says hugging me slightly.

"How are you two coping with things now?" I ask, continuing to wipe my tears away with my hand.

"I mean we're getting there and once things settle down we do want to try again because we are still relatively young. I know I said we had been trying for a while but we've went to the doctor to both get checked and things so there technically shouldn't be a reason as to why we wouldn't be able to conceive again" Martin replies.

"Maybe you just need to take the pressure off trying then and it might happen like you say once things settle down" I say trying to reassure him. I know it doesn't help the fact they've just miscarried a baby but I don't want him to lose hope either.

"My girlfriend is just worried if we do get pregnant then she might miscarry again" he sighs.

"It's understandable but I think you just need to be positive about things" I say. "Also I'm sure talking to your doctor might help as well, see what they think."

"Yeah you're probably right" Martin smiles. "Anyway I probably should move my arm now before people start suspecting things" he jokes while moving his arm from my shoulder.

"Yeah that was probably best. It's enough being the newbies, we don't want to be seen as the two who get into a relationship" I joke back.

"Funny you say that actually because I was reading something the other night and it says there's at least one couple within every workplace. If you had to take bets on who it was from here, who would you say?" Martin asks.

"Hmm…I don't know" I say looking around as people start to fill up the seats since a lot more people are on a lunch break just now. "I'm really bad with names but what about those two over there sitting close to one another sharing food."

"No they're not a couple, just close friends" Martin points out. "I've worked with both girls before and they both have boyfriends."

"Oh right" I say laughing. "I guess my gaydar is a little broken nowadays."

"Yeah it seems like it" Martin jokes.

"It's probably because Santana is my best friend as well as my wife so I can't actually tell the difference" I shrug.

"That could be it I suppose" Martin nods. "You and Santana seem well matched, I spoke to her briefly at the Christmas party last year."

"I like to think we are" I say smiling at the thought of Santana. "She makes me so happy and I love her so much. She's also so good with Aiden which I love too."

"I can tell she means the world to you" he smiles.

"Yeah, she really does" I say still grinning. Seriously all someone has to do is say Santana or Aiden and I literally melt inside.

"Hey can I ask something?" Martin asks seriously while looking at me.

"Yeah" I nod.

"How does Aiden make you feel?" he asks.

"Like nothing else in the world matters. When I see him all my troubles just seem to disappear and he's one of the main reasons I got through a particularly rough patch not long ago" I say honestly. "I had Aiden right in the middle of my last year at college and I went through a really difficult time because I was so stressed and lost all confidence in myself that I ended up with an eating disorder."

"Oh my goodness, I had no idea" Martin says surprised.

"I don't like to talk about it too much because I have somewhat overcome it but if I do find myself struggling then I always just think of Aiden" I say honestly.

"Clearly that was really difficult for you like you just said so how else did you get through it apart from having Aiden there?" he asks. "I mean it doesn't sound like just a minor blip so what else helped you?"

"Basically having Santana got me through the other part. I mean I did go to a specialist but without Santana I wouldn't have done that so she really was the main driving force" I reply. "To be honest without Aiden and Santana I'm nothing and they're 2 of the most important people in my life."

"Do you know, I think that talk with you has really made me feel better" Martin smiles. "You and Santana seem so strong and unbreakable so I think as long as I have Ashley then I know we're going to get through anything life throws at us."

"Yeah you two will definitely be ok in the end" I smile.

"Yeah and so will you. Whatever you have going on at the moment, I'm sure will sort itself out and you'll see whatever has happened has happened for a reason" he smiles back.

"You have no idea how much my life has just became clearer right now since we talked" I say honestly.

XXX

Even though Santana finishes early on a Friday and usually gets Aiden from childcare, I did it today because Santana had a dental appointment and then a doctor's appointment an hour later. She could have picked him up because the appointments weren't that soon after work but we figured there's no point dragging him around all her appointments because it'd likely unsettle him so he just stayed with Gillian until I finished work. Aiden and I are currently home alone since Santana isn't back yet so he's helping me prepare dinner. I cut up the ingredients while he pushes them into the bowl for me with his hand. To be fair there's more on the floor than in the bowl but I don't mind because he's having fun and he likes to help.

"Mom!" Aiden suddenly screams in excitement and as soon as I look over I see Santana walk into the room and it just melts my heart to see Aiden so excited to see her.

"Hi baby" she smiles brightly at him while taking him from his highchair.

"Hi" I nervously smile when both our eyes meet.

"Yeah, hi" Santana says sadly.

"How are you?" I ask politely.

"Fine, you?" she replies.

"Yeah I'm good" I smile. We fall into a silence as Santana pays attention to Aiden and I just stand there awkwardly. "Were your dentist and doctor's appointments ok?" I ask since she hasn't volunteered to tell me.

"Yeah no cavities so I'm good" she replies before focussing her attention back to Aiden.

"Ok but what about the doctor's appointment, how did that go?" I ask, slightly concerned since she's not openly offering up what happened.

"Fine" she shrugs like it's no big deal.

"Well what did the doctor say, was it a breakout of some kind or did you have a rash? I mean did she give you any medicine for it?" I ask.

"It was two pimples" she mumbles inaudibly.

"Wait…what?" I ask confused. Santana was really concerned about a patch on her skin the other day and she thought she might have some sort of breakout.

"It was two frigging pimples clustered together" she admits embarrassed. "I made a right fool of myself walking in there and she's probably laughing at me right now."

"At least you got checked out though because it could have been something worse" I say struggling not to laugh. I know I shouldn't but I can just imagine Santana going in there all guns blazing about having a rash or something only to be told it's a pimple.

"Just laugh Brittany, I know you want to" she says sighing.

"No I'm not going to laugh at…"

"Honestly it's ok" she says beginning to laugh and shake her head. After laughing for a few moments, Aiden starts to get restless in Santana's arms.

"He wants to join in but he doesn't know what we're laughing at" I say.

"Yeah and he's probably at bit hungry as well" she points out.

"He probably is so I better get back to fixing dinner" I say while turning around to go back to what I was doing before Santana came in.

"Do you need any help or will I just get him cleaned up since he has stuff all over his hands from helping you?" Santana asks bouncing Aiden slightly in her arms.

"No I won't be long so you get Aiden cleaned up" I smile.

"Ok" Santana nods before taking Aiden to the bathroom to get cleaned up. As soon as dinner is ready we all sit down together to eat.

"Mommy is going to help you with this Aiden" I say while putting some mashed potato onto his spoon and raising it to his mouth.

"No" Aiden frowns while shaking his head refusing to open his mouth.

"Aiden come on" I say seriously.

"No" he says again, repeating his actions from the first time.

"Aiden do as mommy says please" Santana states giving him a warning look. He stares at her for a moment before beginning to laugh. "Why is he laughing, I'm being serious" she sighs.

"You very seldom give him a row and he's used to you being fun all the time so he's probably just not taking it seriously" I say.

"Aiden if you don't do as mommy says then we're not playing cars after dinner" Santana states.

"Cars?" Aiden asks as his head shoots up to look at Santana.

"No more cars until you eat" she tells him waving her finger. He looks at her for a moment before surprisingly opening his mouth. "That's a good boy" she smiles at him as I begin feeding him. After a while I go back to eating my own dinner.

"Are you not hungry or is my cooking just really bad?" I smile at Santana while placing my hand on her knee and squeezing it gently.

"I'm sorry, I'm just not hungry" she replies.

"Is everything ok or is that a stupid question?" I ask.

"It's fine, it's just been a tough week at work" Santana shrugs. "I'm glad it's Friday though and I can spend all weekend with Aiden. I was thinking of taking him out somewhere" she says.

"Oh where to?" I ask interested.

"I'm not sure yet but I thought I'd take a drive somewhere and maybe find a park or even go to an aquarium. I've got a feeling he'd like to see all the different types of fish there are" she replies.

"Sounds like fun actually" I smile. "I'm sure you and Aiden will have a whale of a time" I smirk before winking at Santana.

"Oh my god, I totally just got that" Santana says laughing. God I have missed her laugh so much recently.

"No seriously though, I'm sure Aiden will love it" I say genuinely.

"You're going to come with us though, right?" she asks looking at me.

"I don't know, I mean I didn't realise I was invited" I say honestly. "Do you want me to come with you two?"

"Yeah of course I want you to come. You know I like going everywhere with you" she admits shyly.

XXX

Aiden isn't quite fully asleep yet so we're both quietly waiting in his room for him to drift off. I suddenly get an idea so I pull out my phone from my pocket and text Santana.

To Santana: I love you

As soon as Santana's phone vibrates, I see her look at it before giving me a side glance. She then takes a deep breath and begins typing something. A second later my phone vibrates and I see she has replied to me.

From Santana: I love you too x

To Santana: I miss you

From Santana: I miss you so much

As I begin typing out a reply, I see Santana out of the corner of my eye stand up and walk closer to me. She sits on the arm of the chair that I'm currently sitting on.

To Santana: you look beautiful tonight

From Santana: thanks. Can I kiss you please?

To Santana: I would really like that

As soon as I type out my reply, I look up at her and smile. She smiles back before leaning down slightly to capture my lips in a passionate kiss. "I think he's sleeping ok now so maybe we should give him some peace" she whispers while standing up before holding out her hand.

"Ok" I nod while grabbing the baby monitor and taking her hand with my free hand. We quietly leave the room and Santana leads me downstairs. "Babe I need to talk to you" I say breaking the silence between us as we walk into the living room.

"About…you know…the decision?" she asks looking at me worriedly.

"Yeah" I nod, guiding us over to the couch to sit down.

"So what…"

"I want to do it" I say interrupting Santana and taking a deep breath. "I shouldn't need to think twice about it."

"Y-you…you want the termination?" Santana asks worriedly.

"I want our baby Santana" I smile brightly. "I want to give you a daughter or another son."

"Are you serious?" she says starting to get excited.

"Yeah" I nod enthusiastically.

"Oh my god, thank you so much" she says hugging me tightly.

"Babe you don't need to thank me" I say laughing. "It was the right decision in the end. I mean I would be lying if I said this was what I was always going to decide but I know for sure now we have to do this" I say honestly.

"You won't regret it babe, I'll be with you every step of the way" Santana assures me.

"Look, I can't say for certain it's going to be easy for me so I am going to need you more than ever. I know you are there for me but now we need to really make sure we communicate as best we can and doubts need to be sorted as soon as possible" I say.

"I completely understand" Santana nods. "I'll do whatever I can to make this process easier for you and if I'm not doing it then tell me what I need to do. Just shout and scream at me and I'll do whatever it is" she smiles.

"I'll hold you to that" I smirk at her.

"Good" she smiles again.

"I do want to ask one thing of you right now though" I say and she nods for me to continue. "I'd like it to be kept just between you and me for the moment since I'm not very far along" I tell her. It's still really early days so I'd like to wait until at least my first scan before we go ahead and tell everyone. I mean I know my mom already knows but I mean everyone else.

"I mean it'll be hard for me because you know what I'm like when I'm excited but I promise not to tell anyway" Santana says honestly.

"Thank you" I smile before leaning in to steal a quick kiss.

"So if you don't mind me asking, what made you finally decide this was the best option?" Santana asks curiously.

"I was talking to someone today and then it hit me, we are so blessed to be able to have children together and have the chance to be parents again so why throw that away. We've been given this opportunity so we should grab it with both hands because some people aren't always that lucky and can't have their own children" I say seriously.

"I can totally understand that" Santana smiles.

"Hey I'm going to get a drink, do you want one?" I ask while standing up from the couch.

"I am quite thirsty but let me get the drinks" Santana says while standing up. "You just sit down and put your feet up and I'll be right back" she says while helping me sit back down. I'm nowhere near that stage where I need help but I appreciate what Santana is doing so I just let her help me anyway.

"But you don't know what I want to drink" I say pulling her back by the hand as she goes to walk off.

"I'm sorry, what do you want?" she asks smiling.

"It's Friday so I'll go all out and have some red wine please" I smirk.

"Yeah that's not going to happen" Santana smiles while shaking her head at me.

"Fine, just water for me then" I say pretending to be annoyed. It was actually water I was intending to have but I just wanted to mess with her a little bit.

"Ok, I'll be back in a second" she says before leaving the room.

I remain where I am just thinking about things. I'm confident I've made the right decision about the baby but I do still have my worries. I must say though, seeing how happy Santana is and how eager she is to do anything to help me certainly puts me a little more at ease.

"Do you know I was just thinking, what if I took maternity leave and you went back to work early on?" Santana suggests as she walks into the room with the drinks. "It means you don't need to take as much time off work and at least one of us would be here looking after the kids."

"Would you actually want to do that babe?" I ask thinking about her suggestion. Of course I'd like to spend lots of time with the kids but it does seem like this might be an idea.

"I would be happy to do it plus I run my own company so time off wouldn't be an issue. I might just need to take on a few extra cases just now or just do less than normal later on but work from home with the children" Santana says.

"I guess we could think about that" I say keeping the idea in my mind.

"You would be less stressed if you don't need to take large amounts of time off work. I mean ideally you should take a few weeks but thereafter I could be the one at home" she tells me.

"We'll think about it and talk more deeply later on. It's a little bit early just now to be thinking of that" I say.

"That's cool" Santana smiles while sitting down next to me. "So should we inform your doctor first thing on Monday and see where we go from there?" she asks.

"Yeah I'll call on Monday and see if I need an appointment first of if we just get the first scan arranged. I mean now we know then I'd say it's pretty obvious I'm pregnant so I don't suppose there's much more they could do just now" I reply.

"That's true" Santana nods in agreement.

"So can we talk about something real quick?" I ask and Santana nods again. "I just want to make sure we're going to be on the same page if something did happen to me and I do start to make stupid decisions."

"I'm sure we will be babe but I'm going to be here for you every step of the way so don't worry" she assures me.

"Seriously though Santana, I give you permission to do whatever is necessary if something does happen to me. If I start to get unwell again then no matter what I say, do what's right for me and the baby. I don't want you to do something because I say, I want you to do the right thing. If I stop eating again then whisk me straight to the hospital or my therapist no matter if I'm kicking and screaming the whole time" I say honestly. I am taking a slight risk right now because I can't determine what will happen but if something ever did then I need to make sure Santana does what's best.

"Britt I don't want us to think like that because you'll be fine" Santana sighs.

"We have to Santana so please promise me" I state.

"Brittany, come on babe" she shakes her head.

"I'm being serious Santana, I need you to promise me you'll do whatever you need to" I say moving in closer to take Santana's hand.

"I promise" Santana sighs.

"Thank you" I say gratefully while leaning in to kiss her again. "I love you so much" I tell her honestly while looking into her eyes.

"I love you so much too" she smiles as a few stray tears fall down her cheek.

"Baby are you crying?" I ask wiping away the tears with my thumb.

"Yeah, sorry" she chuckles slightly while wiping away a few other tears that fell. "I was so worried in the beginning and now I'm so relieved that I couldn't help being overcome with emotion."

"That's ok, you don't need to apologise" I smile.

"You know that way where you've been so worried about something but as soon as it's over it's like you crash and just end up letting all your emotions out?" she says.

"Honestly you don't need to apologise for crying" I tell her genuinely. "There was this quote that I read once and I can't remember it exactly but it says something like this, 'crying is not a weakness, it's a sign you've been strong too long' and honestly, I think that's exactly right in this case."

"I guess you might have a point" she smiles.

"I know this is mostly my issue we'll be dealing with but I need you to talk to me as well if you're ever worried about something. Communication between both of us is really important through all of this" I say.

"I know and I will talk to you babe, I promise" she smiles at me.

"Good" I say while kissing her hand quickly before standing up.

"Leaving me already?" she jokes.

"No I'm just going to the bathroom, I won't be a second" I smile before leaving the room.

As soon as I come back from the bathroom, I don't sit where I was sitting before, instead I straddle Santana's lap on the couch. "What are you doing?" she smiles looking up at me.

"What does it look like?" I ask smiling as I wrap my arms around her.

"I can see what you're trying to initiate but should you be straddling me like this babe?" she asks in concern.

"You're very sweet but honestly you're worrying too much right now" I smile at her. "I'll tell you if I feel down or there's something wrong but right now I'm perfectly fine."

"Ok" she nods, satisfied with my answer. In all honesty I'm really not feeling in the sexiest of moods right now because my morning sickness is still unpredictable and I did have a hard day at work but I'm doing this for Santana. I know she feels really bad that she can't do more for me during the pregnancy and I have put her through a lot so I want to make sure she knows how much I appreciate her. Don't get me wrong because I do want this right now, I just mean personally I don't feel the sexiest even though I know Santana will disagree.

"Britt…hello" she laughs, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Sorry" I smile.

"I know you like my breasts but surely they're nicer without the shirt covering them and honestly just staring at them won't make the shirt disappear" she teases.

"That's where I disagree actually because I did stare hard enough one day and your shirt ending up popping open to reveal your breasts" I smirk. I'm not actually joking, it happened.

"Baby for the 100th time, I was mid-stretch when you began staring and I popped out my chest too much that a button popped off my blouse" she laughs.

"Whatever you say" I shrug before leaning down to kiss Santana. No matter who is more accurate with the description, the moral of the story is that I ended up getting to fondle those amazing breasts which led to some really good sex.

"Shit…I'm getting hard already" she says as I begin kissing her neck.

"Perhaps we should move things upstairs before they get too heated down here" I suggests while slowing getting off Santana's lap.

"Good idea" she smiles while tugging on her pants slightly at the crotch before standing up.

"I love it when you get so hard so quickly" I smirk.

"Well you can love it even more upstairs so let's go" she chuckles while pulling me out of the room and up the stairs. She goes to open our bedroom door but I stop her.

"No, guest bedroom" I say shaking my head while leading us to the other room. "It's further away from Aiden's room" I explain.

"Oh is someone going to get a little noisy tonight?" she asks while winking at me.

"It all depends on how good you make me feel" I smirk.

"I'm going to rock your world, don't you worry" she assures me while wrapping her arms around me.

* * *

Have they made the right decision or the wrong one?


	29. Misunderstandings

Chapter 29: Misunderstandings

Santana's POV

"I'm not going to be able to walk if you keep holding onto me so tightly" Brittany laughs.

"Maybe I don't want you to walk, maybe I want to do it right here" I tell her.

"We're not doing it in the middle of the hall babe so come on" Brittany says pulling me along to the guest room.

The minute I close the door behind me, Brittany has me pressed up against it and is kissing me. I instantly wrap my arms around her waist pulling her as close as possible to me. As we continue kissing, I slowly move my hands down to her butt where I squeeze it.

"We need to get undressed and quickly" she tells me while pulling my shirt over my head.

"Ok" I nod while immediately unbuttoning her pants as soon as my shirt is off. As soon as we are both left in our underwear, I lead us over to the bed. Brittany quickly gets on the bed and I straddle her hips before leaning down to kiss her.

"Now I know you want this super sexy but I'm going to need you to go a little slow for me because I'm really tender in places at the moment" she tells me.

"I'll go really slowly, I promise" I say genuinely while pushing her hair behind her ear so I can kiss her properly. "If it gets too much then just tell me and I'll stop" I smile.

"Let's not be hasty, I mean there's no fun in stopping altogether" she smirks. "I just need you to be gentle with me that's all."

"Well I can certainly do that" I smile before leaning down to kiss her again. After kissing for a few moments, I begin kissing along her jaw and down to her neck. Once I reach her breasts, I realise we're still somewhat dressed so I reach behind her and unclasp her bra before gently pulling it down her arms to take it off.

"I want to take yours off" she tells me while sitting up slightly so she has better access. She unclips it and takes it off me before throwing it to the floor. We then both quickly get out of the rest of our underwear before I gently lie Brittany back and kiss her again. I then make my way kissing down her neck and along her collarbone. Once I reach her breasts, I kiss them softly before beginning to caress them gently with my hands as I make my way kissing down her body. Once I reach her core, I gently run a finger over her folds to make sure she's wet enough.

"Trust me, I'm ready" Brittany smirks while pulling me up slightly. "I want you inside me so bad" she says placing her hand on the back of my neck and pulling my head down. I capture her lips in a passionate kiss.

"Ok" I smile while guiding myself to her entrance. I go in very gently since she asked me to be gentle with her before slowly picking up my rhythm with each trust. "Is this pace ok?" I ask to make sure she's comfortable with it.

"Yeah" she moans. "Maybe a little faster though" she says holding onto my hips to keep me as close as possible to her. I begin picking up the rhythm causing both of us to moan louder at the feeling. Eventually we both came together and as soon as I got my breath back I moved so I was lying next to Brittany.

"That was good" I say turning my head to smile at her.

"It was" she smiles back. We lie silently for a few minutes tangled up in each other just resting our bodies.

"Hey babe where are you going?" I ask as I notice Brittany letting go of me and getting out of bed.

"To the bathroom to freshen up and brush my teeth" she says turning to look back at me and smile before continuing out the door and to the bathroom.

"But I didn't think we were done yet" I say rushing after her.

"You want more?" she smirks.

"I always want more" I chuckle while wrapping my arms around her.

"Well regardless of that right now, I still want to freshen up and brush my teeth" she tells me.

"I think you're fine as you are" I smirk. "You know I always find your post sex look incredibly sexy so come back to bed."

"I'll come back in a second, I just want to tidy myself up and then check on Aiden first. I haven't heard anything through the monitor so I want to make sure he's ok" Brittany says leaning in to kiss my temple before squirting some toothpaste onto her brush and beginning to brush her teeth.

"Ok babe" I say before beginning to get dressed. I can't say I've heard Aiden either so it wouldn't hurt to check on him to make sure he's ok. As soon as we are both ready we tiptoe into Aiden's room.

"He's ok, he's just sleeping" Brittany replies after peaking into the cot to check on him.

"In that case, let's pick up where we left off" I say while grabbing her hand and spinning her around so she's facing me.

"Ok" she laughs slightly before leaning in to kiss me. We quietly leave the room and go to our bedroom.

XXX

I wake up suddenly feeling rather cold and when I look down I realise I'm not wearing anything and Brittany now has the cover all to herself. Instead of waking Brittany up, I decide it's best to just get up and quickly put some pyjamas on. Just as I'm about to get out of bed, I feel the bed shift and Brittany rolls closer to me and pulls me back to wrap her arms around me tightly. We always lie close together in bed with our arms around one another but there's something different about today and how Brittany pulls me closer to her. I guess it's because we've been going through a difficult time recently so it's really nice to be close again.

"You're so sexy right now" she whispers in my ear while running her hands gently up and down my body.

"Thanks baby" I say smiling.

"Were you going to go somewhere?" she asks while gently stroking my arm.

"I was just going to put some pyjamas on because I was getting cold" I reply.

"No need, I'll warm you up" she replies before lightly kissing the side of my neck. "So how tired are you right now?" she asks.

"Not that tired, why?" I ask curiously while turning around to face her.

"Well after my little nap I feel very rejuvenated now so how about we see how many more times we can cum" she smirks.

"That sounds like a really good idea" I smirk before kissing her.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Saturday morning

When I first woke up, Brittany wasn't beside me in bed so I went to look for her. When I saw her with Aiden, she seemed to have everything under control so I quickly took a shower. I'm now making my way downstairs to see where she is because she and Aiden are not in his room anymore.

"Morning" I smile when I see Aiden and Brittany in the kitchen.

"Morning" Brittany smiles back.

"Hi honey" I say leaning down to kiss Aiden.

"Mom" he smiles up at me.

"Have you had your breakfast yet sweetheart?" I ask Aiden and he shakes his head in response.

"Aiden, mommy fed you not long ago" Brittany laughs.

"He's like me, he likes to eat" I smile over at Brittany.

"Food" Aiden says clapping his hands together.

"No more just now Aid" I tell him before kissing his head and sitting down at the table next to him. "Speaking of breakfast have you eaten yet Britt?" I ask turning my attention to Brittany.

"Not yet because I thought we could eat together" she smiles.

"That's cool, what shall I make us?" I ask.

"I don't mind, surprise me" she replies.

"Ok well how about…excuse me that better not be coffee you're about to drink" I say just before Brittany can get the cup she has just picked up get to her lips.

"Yeah it is" she says looking at me.

"No coffee when you're pregnant please" I say taking the cup out of her hand.

"You can't seriously think I'll be able to function without coffee" she states.

"I'm serious Brittany" I tell her. "I didn't let you have coffee with Aiden and I'm not about to let you have it with this baby."

"But what…"

"No buts Brittany, no more coffee until after the baby" I say standing up and picking up her cup before going over to pour the coffee down the sink.

"I don't like you right now" she sighs giving me a playful glare.

"You might not like me right now but you'll love me later when I'm deep inside you" I smirk.

"Santana!" she says shocked while laughing at the same time.

"What?" I shrug.

"Aiden is right there and you're saying things like that to me, it's not ideal" she says slightly embarrassed.

"He doesn't know what I mean and the chances of him even listening to what I just said are slim. He's too busy staring at the toy car he's playing with" I tell her.

"Ok fine" Brittany nods.

"Anyway I'll get started on breakfast now" I say while going over to the fridge to see what we have that I could make. As soon as I decide on something and make it, we sit down to eat together.

"Since we're all cleared up, I'm going to go for a shower now babe" Brittany says kissing my cheek before leaving the room to go upstairs. I meanwhile take Aiden upstairs to see if he needs a diaper change and to get him dressed. I then take him to my bedroom with me where he can play and I can get organised. By the time I hear Brittany come out of the shower and into the bedroom, I'm doing my makeup and Aiden is playing on the bed with some toys.

"You're beautiful" I smile at her as I notice she's only dressed in a towel.

"Uh…thanks" she says blushing slightly.

"I'm serious Britt" I say moving to stand behind her at the mirror. I kiss her bare shoulder lightly before wrapping my arms around her waist and leaning my chin on her shoulder.

"You're going to scar your son if you keep getting affectionate with me in front of him" she teases.

"Look away son, I'm going to kiss mommy" I say before turning Brittany's head slightly so I can kiss her.

"Honey come on" Brittany laughs pulling away after I manage to give her a quick kiss.

XXX

Once we arrived at the aquarium, we went over to the desk to pay to get in and to get some leaflets so we knew where the most interesting areas would be. We've never took Aiden to something like this before so I wasn't entirely sure how interested in fish he'd be so I was hoping if we at least found the more interesting fish to look at then he might like it.

"Wow look at the size of that fish…its huge" I say walking away from the glass so I'm not as close to it. I doubt they can break the glass and get to me but the thing was scary so I wasn't taking any chances.

"Oh my god, honey are you scared?" Brittany asks wrapping her arm around me.

"Don't be silly" I wave it off. Yeah like I'm going to admit to my wife I'm scared of a silly fish.

"That is so cute" she smiles at me.

"I'm not scared Britt" I say shaking my head but who am I kidding. That thing is freaking huge, I wouldn't like to get on the wrong side of that in the ocean.

"Mom…shark" Aiden squeals in excitement causing me to turn my attention to him.

"That's not a shark Aid, that's just a really big fish" I smile down at him.

"No that actually is a shark" Brittany states shrugging.

"Are you kidding me?" I ask shocked before quickly pulling the stroller away from the glass window. There's no way my son is getting so close to a shark, a glass window or not.

"You are seriously so cute" Brittany smiles shaking her head at me as we begin moving along.

"Wait…you were joking?" I question looking over at her.

"Yes I was joking, it wasn't a shark" she laughs. "You'll know what a shark is for sure when you see one because it'll be ten times the size of that."

"Ok" I say breathing a sigh of relief.

"We should totally buy Aiden a toy shark at the gift store though because he seems interested in sharks" Brittany says causing me to shake my head.

"No he can get a dolphin, he's not getting a toy shark" I state.

"Is that because you think he'll like a dolphin better or because you don't want to walk into his room and see a fluffy toy shark and get freaked out?" she asks while smirking at me.

"The former Brittany because like I just said, I'm not scared of sharks" I shrug.

"If you're not scared then you and I should take a boat ride sometime and we can go out there to the sea and look at all the sharks" she smiles. I know she's not genuine and she's just trying to tease me.

"Ok fine, I don't like sharks" I sigh. "So yeah, there won't be any boat rides anywhere near an area where sharks might appear."

"Yeah I thought as much" she laughs before leaning in to kiss me.

"Whatever" I wave it off slightly embarrassed. Once we've had enough walking around looking at all the aquatic animals and plants, we leave and head to the parking lot. I get Aiden strapped into the car and then Brittany and I get into the front.

"It's still early in the day so why don't I take you both to lunch" Brittany suggests looking over at me.

"We can go to lunch but I'm paying" I reply. "You deserve to be treated" I smile.

"In that case I'll order the most expensive thing on the menu and I'll be ordering the most expensive non-alcoholic drink they have as well" she smirks.

"Trust me, you can order whatever you want and I'll still be happy" I tell her honestly. As long as Brittany is happy then I'm happy.

"Ok then, where shall we go?" she asks.

"I know a place so if you want to switch, I'll drive" I say.

"No it's ok, I'll drive" Brittany shakes her head. "Just give me the directions and I'll take us there" she smiles.

"Ok" I shrug. Once we get our safety belts on, Brittany drives off in the direction I instruct her to go. The restaurant is relatively close to where we are so we don't take long in getting there. I get Aiden out of the car and then we go inside to see if they have any tables available.

"Good afternoon" the waitress smiles as we walk through the door.

"Hi, we were looking for a table for 3 and a child's highchair if you have one" I smile back.

"That's no problem, follow me" the waitress replies while picking up some menus and leading us to our table. "I'll leave the menus here and I'll be back over in a second to get you some drinks" she smiles before leaving.

"Ok Aid, let's get you into your seat" Brittany says taking Aiden from me and placing him in the highchair. As she is doing it, he begins kicking his legs in the air because he doesn't want to sit in the seat and he ends us kicking Brittany in the thigh.

"No kicking please" I warn him but he doesn't take any notice, instead he just laughs at me. "Mom is not laughing, you don't kick people Aiden."

"Kick" Aiden giggles before kicking his feet in the air.

"Aiden Lopez do not do that again" Brittany states firmly causing Aiden to stare at her for a second thinking about doing it again before he lets his foot relax. "Good boy" Brittany smiles.

"Seriously Brittany, where am I going wrong?" I ask her as we both sit down now that Aiden is in his seat.

"You're not doing anything wrong as such, it just always ends up that I am the more firm one with him so he knows not to mess with me whereas he knows he always gets to play with you. Once you start staying home with him you'll see how things will change" she smiles.

"I suppose" I nod. "Anyway why don't you pick something to drink and I'll get the waitress over here" I say while handing Brittany the drinks menu.

"Ok" she smiles before taking the menu from me.

"Do you know, these seats are rather hard, do you want me to ask if we can switch to another table?" I ask.

"No it's ok, I'm fine here" Brittany smiles. Eventually we order some drinks and then decide on something to eat. We're now just sitting talking, waiting on the food to arrive.

"So how are you feeling today, any morning sickness?" I ask.

"I'm ok, I was a little sick before you got up this morning but that's been about it" she replies.

"And what about our decision, are you still ok with going through with it?" I ask to make sure she's not having any doubts.

"Yeah, I'm feeling good about everything just now" she says while leaning over the table to squeeze my hand in reassurance.

"So is there anything you need me to do or anything you want to talk about at the moment?" I ask.

"Baby relax please, I'll tell you if I need anything else" she says smiling sweetly at me.

"Ok" I nod smiling back.

* * *

Brittany's POV

Sunday evening

I haven't seen my mom in a few days so I'm on my way to visit her just now with Aiden. Santana had some work stuff to do and was then planning on going running so I figured I'd take Aiden with me so she could have some time to herself. Also my parents haven't seen Aiden in a few days either so I thought they'd like to see him.

As soon as we arrive at my parent's house, I notice my dad outside washing his car. I put the car in park before getting Aiden out and then we walk over to my dad.

"Hi dad" I smile at him while keeping a hold on Aiden's hand so he doesn't wander away.

"Hi sweetheart" he smiles, kissing my cheek.

"Say hi to grandpa Aiden" I say looking down at him.

"Hi" Aiden says quietly while waving at my dad.

"Hey how's my favourite little boy" my dad says picking Aiden up.

"Car" Aiden says excitedly pointing to my dad's car.

"That's right, that's my car" he smiles at Aiden before turning around so Aiden can see the car better.

"Hey why don't you stay and play with Grandpa for a while and I'll go and see Grandma" I say leaning over to kiss Aiden's head. "You can come in later and see her ok?"

"Ok" Aiden giggles.

"Don't get him wet please dad" I tell him while walking over to the house.

"Oh lighten up Brittany, let him help me wash my car" my dad smiles.

"Well you better be prepared to change him when he gets all wet and refuses to take off his clothes" I state.

"Don't worry, I'll get him changed just fine" my dad smiles. "Just ask your mom to lay out some of Aiden's spare clothes for me because I don't want to walk around the house all wet."

"Ok" I nod before walking inside. I go straight towards the living room where I hear the TV playing hoping my mom is in there. When I walk in I see her sitting with her laptop in front of her. "Hi mom" I say happily while throwing myself to the couch.

"Oh hi sweetheart, how are you?" my mom smiles over at me.

"I'm ok, a little tired but ok" I reply. "Aiden didn't sleep too well last night for some reason but he seems ok today."

"Did he maybe have a fever or something?" she asks, putting her laptop down and turning her attention to me.

"No he didn't seem to" I shake my head. "Santana thought it was maybe another tooth coming in or something."

"That could be it" my mom nods. "So where is Aiden, is he at home with Santana?" she asks.

"No Aiden is outside with dad actually and Santana was planning on going running when I left" I reply. "Dad is going to bring Aiden in soon to see you."

"Ok" my mom nods. "So speaking of Santana, how are things between you two?" she asks in concern while coming over to sit next to me.

"They're perfect, they've never been better actually" I smile.

"So Santana took the decision well?" she asks slightly shocked.

"What decision?" I frown in confusion.

"About the baby" she states.

"Of course she did, she was over the moon" I reply.

"Wait…you're having a termination right?" my mom asks confused.

"No I've decided to keep the baby" I smile.

"I thought when you came to see me the other night and the numerous times we spoke on the phone you decided to have a termination" she replies.

"No I hadn't decided one way or another" I say honestly. "Like I say though, we've decided now so you're going to be a grandma again" I smile.

"I guess I am" she nods. I've got to say I thought she would be a little more enthusiastic about it. I mean I am her daughter after all and she is going to get another grandchild.

"You could say congratulations mom or even hug me" I state.

"I'm sorry, I know I should sound a little happier for you right now but I'm just concerned about this that's all" she replies.

"Don't you want another grandchild?" I ask.

"Of course I do but is this the right decision in this situation?" she asks.

"There was never going to be a right or wrong decision mom, it was just going to be what would be the best overall" I reply.

"And you talked things over with Santana and you both agreed this was the best overall?" she asks.

"Yes" I nod.

"Are you sure you both agreed?" my mom asks.

"What do you mean, am I sure? Of course I am" I say slightly offended.

"You know I like Santana but I was getting the feeling you were more swaying your decision at times to keep the baby because you want Santana to be happy rather than keeping it because you want that. I just want to make sure you are doing this because you want this as much as you want to make Santana happy" she replies.

"This is what I want mom" I assure her. "Santana is going to help me through all of this and we're thinking that she will stay at home with the kids and I can go back to work" I say.

"I guess that does make sense" she nods.

"You still don't look happy about this mom" I say. I mean I don't need her approval but it is nice to have it to know I am going to be ok.

"It's not that I'm unhappy, I'm just worried because you're my daughter and I don't ever want to see you get hurt" she smiles.

"I know but I'll have Santana for support and you too hopefully" I say looking at her.

"Of course I'm going to support you" she smiles at me.

"If you were in my position what would you do?" I ask.

"Honestly, having you and your siblings were the best times of my life so I think I'd end up having the baby" she admits. "At the same time though I was never put in the same situation as you so perhaps I may have had my doubts."

"That doesn't help" I say chuckling.

"At the end of the day Brittany, this was always up to you not me so I'm there for you" my mom smiles.

"Thank you" I smile back gratefully.

"I am truly happy for you Brittany, honestly" she smiles again before leaning in to hug me. "I'm always here if you need to talk again, ok?"

"Thank you mom" I reply. "I promise to come to you if I need to talk about anything" I tell her. The first person I would go to would be Santana but it's nice to know I've always got my mom there too.

"Good" she smiles. "Now let's go and find this grandson of mine because I haven't seen him in ages and I miss him."

"He misses you too" I say genuinely. As soon as we head outside, we see Aiden sitting on my dad's shoulders washing the roof of the car. I use the word 'washing' very lightly though because he is only 1 year old so he's more throwing water over it than cleaning it.

"Mommy" he squeals excitedly when he sees me.

"Hi sweetheart" I say while lifting him gently from my dad. "Grandma wants to say hello to you" I tell him while pointing to my mom. He starts getting excited again when he sees her and begins reaching out to her.

"Why don't we go over here to sit and you can tell me what you've been getting up to Aiden" my mom says as she takes Aiden from me and goes over to the garden furniture to sit down. I meanwhile make my way over to my dad to talk.

"So how are you Brittany, we haven't talked a lot recently" my dad smiles at me while handing me a sponge to help him clean the car.

"I'm fine dad" I shrug while smiling at him.

"Are you sure there's not something on your mind?" he asks.

"Why would you think that?" I ask not really answering the question. I don't like keeping secrets from my dad but I hadn't really planned on telling anyone but Santana about the pregnancy because it was still really early days. I mean I told my mom but that wasn't the intention in the beginning so I'd rather tell my dad a little later on.

"You and your mom have been having secret talks for about a week now so I'm guessing there is something going on" he replies.

"I don't like keeping secrets from you dad but I just wasn't ready to talk about it and mom was helping me" I admit. "I know mom is your wife and you don't want to have secrets from each other but I didn't want her to say anything to anyone either."

"I don't like not knowing things but I understand" he smiles at me. "If you do ever want to talk though I am here as well. You don't always need to go to your mom."

"I know and thank you" I smile back. We remain silent for the next few minutes just finishing up the car. It's actually nice just spending some time with my parents because I don't do that very much anymore. Don't get me wrong I love spending all my free time with Santana because she is amazing but I have to admit I do miss doing things like this with my parents.

"Do you know, Aiden reminds me so much of you as a little girl" my dad points out breaking the silence between us.

"If I'm honest I always think Aiden is more like Santana" I admit.

"I mean by looks he's Santana's double but his mannerisms remind me a lot of you" he smiles. "The way he was washing the car earlier reminded me so much of how you used to help me when you were younger."

"What hand was he using to wash the car?" I ask randomly.

"Um…both hands, why?" my dad asks in confusion while laughing slightly.

"Santana and I have a bet on to see if he's going to be right or left handed" I reply. "I bet her 20 dollars that he'll be like me and be right handed but Santana is so sure he's going to be left handed."

"Well he had both hands on the sponge and was washing it like that so it was hard to tell" my dad says.

"That's ok, I guess we'll just need to wait a little longer to find out" I shrug. "So tell me, what else do Aiden and I do that are similar?" I ask.

"Well he mentioned something about car and mom so I can only assume Santana bought him a new toy car?" he asks and I nod. "Anyway it seems Santana buys him a lot of stuff and as I remember you had me pretty out of pocket when you were younger with the number of dolls I had to buy you. You and your son both seem to like lots of new toys."

"I guess we do both like that" I laugh.

XXX

After talking to my dad for a little bit, I decided it was probably best to get Aiden home to bed because he was getting tired. As soon as I arrived back home, I put Aiden straight to bed before going to find Santana.

"Someone smells nice" I say walking into the bedroom instantly smelling a nice aroma.

"I just took a shower because I was sweating buckets after my run" Santana says walking over to me. "Anyway hi baby" she smiles leaning in to kiss me.

"Hi" I smile back.

"How were your parents, are they ok?" she asks going over to fix her hair in the mirror.

"They're good" I smile. "Aiden helped my dad to wash his car and he seemed to have fun which was so cute."

"Yeah he loved it the other day when he got to help me wash our cars" she smiles. "Where is Aid by the way?" she asks.

"He fell asleep in the car ride home so I've put him down in his bed" I reply.

"Shouldn't we change him into something a little comfier though?" Santana asks in concern.

"No it's ok because we got him changed at my parents' house because his clothes were all wet from washing the car so I figured I'd just put the pyjamas on that my mom had at her house. He was getting pretty tired anyway so I thought he might fall asleep soon" I reply.

"That's cool" she smiles. "I'll quickly go and kiss him goodnight just now and then I'll be back" she says walking over to the door.

"Ok, I'll just get ready for bed just now" I reply.

Once I'm ready, I get into bed and wait for Santana to come back. As soon as she does, she joins me in bed. I'm not really sure what happened next because one minute we were talking and the next I'm flat on my back with Santana kissing me. I guess I'm just slightly preoccupied thinking about what my mom said because I sure as hell should know when someone as sexy as Santana is straddling me.

"Baby if you're not into this then we don't need to do it tonight, we can just relax and watch some TV in bed together" she says looking down at me.

"I'm sorry, I am into it I just had a few other things on my mind" I admit. "Keep going though because it feels really good" I smile at her.

"Ok" she smiles before going back to what she's doing. A few seconds later I feel her slow down again before sitting back so she can see me better. I know she knows there's still something on my mind that's distracting me so I'm not going to lie right now.

"I'm going to be ok during this pregnancy, aren't I?" I ask concerned.

"Of course you are" she smiles. "You have me remember and I'll do whatever it takes to get you through this without anything bad happening."

"Ok" I say taking a deep breath.

"Is something making you question things again?" Santana asks.

"It was just something my mom said" I admit.

"Oh really?" she asks raising an eyebrow in interest. "What did your mom say?"

"She was surprised I was keeping the baby, she really thought I might have went with having a termination" I reply.

* * *

Santana's POV

Monday 1st March 2021

Even though I'm supposed to be working from home today, I just can't seem to focus on work because of what Brittany said last night. I've decided to go and see if her mom is home so I can talk to her. I want to know why she would say something like that to Brittany because Brittany finally seemed to be ok with the pregnancy and now she's not. I don't think I could go through the situation of deciding again, it's too painful.

As soon as I arrive at the Pierce's house, I get Aiden out the car and we go over and knock on the door. Sometimes if Brittany is with me we'll walk straight into the house since it used to be her house but since it's just Aiden and I then I find it more polite to just knock.

"Hi Santana, in you come" Karen smiles while opening the door.

"Do you need to go anywhere or do you have a minute to talk?" I ask.

"I'm not working today so I've got plenty of time" she smiles while leading Aiden and me to the kitchen. "Do you want some coffee?" she asks.

"No thank you, I've decided to stay off coffee as long as Britt has to" I reply. "It's going to be really hard for me" I chuckle, "but I made her stop so rightly I should too."

"How about some juice then?" she smiles.

"Ok, thank you" I reply while sitting down with Aiden on my lap.

"So what would you like to talk about?" Karen asks while placing the drinks down and sitting down across from me.

"The conversation you and Brittany had last night when she was visiting" I reply. "Look I appreciate you were trying to help but you're giving her second thoughts" I state.

"She is my daughter Santana, I only want the best for her" Karen sighs. "It wasn't my intention for her to change her mind, I just wanted to make sure she was ok and she knew what she was doing."

"I'm not going anywhere Karen so I'll be with her every step of the way. I know she can handle this so what she needs is reassurance from us all, not you frightening her" I say.

"Excuse me, I didn't frighten her Santana" Karen points out. "Like I just said, I was making sure she felt that she was doing it for herself and the baby and not for anyone else."

"Of course she was doing it for herself, that's all I wanted her to do" I state.

"She just wants to make you happy Santana and I was scared that was swaying her decision" Karen sighs. "I just…"

"Hold on" I say raising my hand to signal for her to stop, "are you saying you think she's doing this because of me?"

"You and I both know you've always wanted lots of children" Karen says.

"That doesn't answer my question, I am asking you if you think she made the decision to make me happy and not because she felt it was the better of the two options" I reply.

"Santana, I do believe how you felt factored into this in a big way" Karen admits.

"I didn't make Brittany make that decision. She decided on her own that that was what she was going to do so don't make it out that I made her do this" I say beginning to get slightly defensive.

"I didn't say you made her; I'm just saying how I feel as a mother" Karen replies. "I'm just saying it was a possibility that you swayed her decision" she says.

"But you believe me that I didn't push her into this?" I ask to make sure.

"Yes I believe you" Karen replies.

"Ok" I nod, beginning to calm down.

"Think about Aiden, ok. I know he's a boy but say he was your daughter and this happened to him then what would you want" Karen asks. "Would you rather a grandchild than have your child healthy?"

"Of course not but Brittany is healthy just now and that's the thing. I wouldn't want her to do this if something was wrong just now but since it's not then we just need to make sure throughout the whole thing that we keep her upbeat about things" I reply.

"I appreciate what you're trying to say but those are just words Santana, we can't predict what she'll be like later on so both scenarios are tricky in my opinion" Karen admits.

"I know they are but Brittany and I need to pick one and now that she has you're making her doubt herself" I say. "I want you to support her not make her question her decision."

"I am supporting her" Karen says shaking her head at this whole conversation we're having.

"It doesn't feel like you are and honestly it feels like you're trying to make me feel bad as well" I admit.

"Do you know how many of my daughter's partners I have liked?" she asks.

"I'm guessing none" I sigh.

"No, one and do you know who it was?" she asks.

"An ex-boyfriend of Brittany's I'm assuming" I shake my head. "And let me guess things would be different if she was with him now and she'd probably be ten times happier too."

"Why are you putting yourself down like that Santana?" Karen asks.

"Because you're not exactly painting me out to be someone you like right now" I state.

"Santana it's you, you are the only one of either of my daughter's partners I have liked" she replies.

"Why are you telling me this?" I ask confused.

"Because I want you to know I have nothing against you. This whole thing is not about you, it's about how terrified I am of losing my daughter" she tells me.

"I won't let that happen Karen, no one is going to lose Brittany" I assure her.

XXX

After talking with Karen, my head wasn't really into working today so I decided just to have some fun with Aiden and I could catch up with work tomorrow back at the office. We went to the park to play for a little while before going to the grocery store to get a few things for dinner. Since I know he hates going to get groceries, I promised him another new toy car if he was good the whole time we were inside and he was. He's currently playing with it just now while we wait on Brittany getting home.

"Hi, I'm home" I hear Brittany shout as the front door opens.

"Aiden, who's that?" I ask him while tapping his shoulder to get his attention. "Is that mommy?" I ask and he looks at me for a second before looking over and taking off towards the door since Brittany is standing leaning against the doorframe.

"Mommy" he smiles brightly while holding his hands out so Brittany can pick him up.

"Hi honey" she smiles while scooping him up in her arms. "Oh, what have you got there?" she asks looking at the tiny BMW in his hand.

"Yeah so I have a confession to make" I laugh nervously.

"We are going to be broke if you keep buying him things like this" she laughs. "He already had a black toy car" she states.

"I know but this is an actual BMW one and I promised him it if he was good in the store today and he was" I tell her.

"You're in for a shock one of these days when he suddenly asks you for one of those cars that toddlers can actually drive and then he'll have the whole house turned upside down. He'll be ramming it into doors and tearing up the carpets" she laughs.

"No if I buy one of them for him then it'll be strictly for outdoors" I say.

"Yeah I'd like to see that conversation because you just can't say no to him" she chuckles.

"Yeah but you can so I'll just send him to you" I tease.

"Ok fair point" she smiles while putting Aiden back down on the ground. "So not to rush you or anything but I'm starving so shall we make dinner?" she asks and I nod. We then take Aiden to the kitchen and make a start on dinner.

"I had a fight with your mom today" I sigh, breaking the short silence we fell into while we cooked.

"How on earth did that happen?" Brittany frowns in confusion, looking over at me.

"I wanted to speak to her because I didn't think it was right what she said after you 2 had a talk" I admit.

"What exactly did she say that offended you?" Brittany asks.

"Well she told you not to keep the baby and to be honest with you Britt, that's not her decision. That decision is between you and me" I state.

"Ok, back up" she sighs. "When exactly did she tell me to terminate this pregnancy?"

"Last night when you went over there" I frown in confusion.

"Santana my mom didn't tell me to terminate it, she just said she thought I might based on how I was feeling but she most certainly didn't say I had to terminate the pregnancy" Brittany replies seriously.

"Oh…shit" I say aloud. "I had a fight with your mom over something she didn't do" I say shaking my head.

"Honey, apart from you she was the one person who has been there for me through everything so yes I am going to question a few things when she says something" Brittany states.

"So you think I was wrong to go over there today?" I ask. I mean yes it was wrong maybe to act the way I did but I still I had right because she made Brittany question things.

"Yeah a little bit" Brittany nods.

"Wait, really?" I ask. "I was just trying to be polite with asking that but I don't think I was wrong because the way you told the story about your talk seemed quite serious."

"You could have just asked me babe instead of interrogating my mom" she states.

"Are you seriously siding with your mom over me?" I question. "Brittany I am your wife and I have been here for you through everything."

"I am not siding with anyone Santana and if you listened to me a second ago you would hear that I also know you have been there for me through everything" Brittany replies.

"I know she's your mom but I prefer it if we talk about things rather than go to other people" I say.

"Are you telling me you wouldn't go to your mom to talk if we started having problems?" she asks.

"No I'd deal with them with you, I wouldn't go to someone else and let their opinion inflict mine" I say. "I especially wouldn't do it when it was something as serious as a baby being involved."

"Wait a second…are you overreacting about this because you think I'm going to go back on my word. Do you think I'm going to suddenly change my mind and have a termination after all?" she asks.

"Well yeah" I reply like it's obvious.

"Babe…" Brittany sighs, "I'm not going to do that, I promise you."

"You're not?" I ask surprised.

"No" she shakes her head. "All I meant was that I was worrying about things again, I didn't mean it was going to make me change my mind. I just needed a little more reassurance that we'd get through this" she states.

"Oh" I say feeling a little bit of a fool right now.

"Look…" Brittany says moving to wrap her arms around me. "I get that this whole thing hasn't been easy so I understand how you might have got the wrong end of the stick. Honestly though I would never say one thing and then suddenly change my mind when it's something as serious as this. We're having this baby and that's not going to change."

"Ok" I smile before pulling her into a passionate kiss.

"One of these days we'll be able to communicate effectively without someone misunderstanding" Brittany chuckles.

"I know" I laugh.


	30. Fun Times

Chapter 30: Fun times

Brittany's POV

Tuesday 2nd March 2021

Aiden is with Santana's brother Eddie and Kitty tonight so I've planned a romantic night for the two of us. I know it's in the middle of the week but I feel we both need it to get back on track. The last few days have been tough so I'm looking forward to a chilled out night.

I'm just in the middle of laying the table when I hear something behind me. I turn around and see Santana at the door.

"Uh…hello" she smiles walking into the room. "What's going on here?" she asks slightly surprised while looking around the room to see all the lit candles.

"You and I are going to get a little romantic tonight" I smile.

"Sounds good" she smiles back while walking over to me. "You look beautiful by the way" she says while leaning in to kiss me.

"Dinner is almost ready so why don't you get comfortable here in the dining room and I'll bring the food through in a second" I tell her.

"Ok but hold on a second" Santana says frowning. "Where's my favourite little guy?" she asks looking around for Aiden.

"He's staying with your brother tonight, remember?" I frown in confusion.

"Oh is that tonight, I could have sworn it was tomorrow night" she states. "I never even got to say a proper goodbye this morning because I was thinking I'd see him tonight."

"Babe you spent 5 minutes saying goodbye" I tell her.

"Yes but if I remembered he wasn't going to be here tonight then I'd have spent a little more time" she replies.

"Look how about we call your brother in a little while and you can say goodnight to him" I suggest.

"Yeah let's do that" she nods.

"Ok so you go on through and get comfortable and I'll be there in a second" I say.

"Ok" Santana smiles while kissing my cheek before she leaves. I then make my way to the kitchen to plate up the food before joining Santana. "Wow it all looks lovely" she smiles down at the food.

"Let's just hope it tastes lovely" I chuckle.

"I'm sure it will" she reassures me.

"So your favourite little guy might not be here but I hope you still enjoy your night with your favourite girl" I say looking at her and smiling.

"Of course I will" she says leaning in to kiss me.

"There you go" I say smiling while handing Santana a glass of wine. "Don't worry mine is just sparkling grape juice" I reassure her. We then begin eating and talking.

"So what's this in aid of?" she asks smiling.

"We're celebrating" I shrug.

"Celebrating?" she asks intrigued, "and what might that be that we're celebrating?"

"The fact I'm pregnant and how awesome you're going to be raising another child" I smile.

"I see" she nods smiling. "I like this idea so why don't we raise a toast to the future. Here's to an exciting new chapter in our life" she says while raising her glass.

"I agree" I smile while clinking my glass with Santana's. "I must admit I am still a little nervous but I am looking forward to bringing another child up with you" I smile.

"I'm looking forward to it too" she smiles back.

Once we're finished eating dinner, Santana helps me to clear up. I said I would do it all because I wanted her to rest but she insisted she would help me. She says I need to start taking things easy now that I'm pregnant but I'm really not that far along so I want to do stuff. I knew protesting wouldn't end well so I just let her help me so we didn't spoil our night.

"Hey let's take this some place comfier" I say while leading Santana to the living room. We sit down on the couch next to one another.

"I know I said it already but thank you for dinner tonight, it was lovely" Santana smiles.

"You're welcome" I say smiling back.

"What would you like to do now, do you want to watch some TV?" she asks looking at me.

"I'm ok with just being with you just now" I say honestly.

"Ok" Santana replies.

"Do you know you're so beautiful" I smile while gently moving a strand of hair from Santana's face.

"Thank you" she smiles sweetly at me.

"I'm serious, you're the most beautiful girl in the world" I tell her genuinely.

"As much as I like the compliment, what's going on babe?" she asks curiously. "You seem to be getting very sentimental tonight which of course I love but we don't do this that much."

"I just want you to know how much you mean to me that's all" I shrug. "I mean you are right, we don't get to do this kind of thing a lot since we're parents now so I just wanted to reassure you tonight while I could that I really love you."

"I know you really love me, you don't need to keep reassuring me" she smiles while taking my hand in hers. "I really love you too, by the way."

"This might not be an easy journey for us so I need to do this so I know that you know how much you mean to me and whatever happens I will always love you" I reply. In all honesty I need to reassure myself that Santana is reassured if that makes sense. I need to know for sure that she knows we'll be ok.

"Ok, I get that" she smiles.

"Don't get me wrong that and celebrating us having a baby is the main reason for doing this but there is also another reason" I say with a slight smirk on my face.

"Hmm…I wonder what that could be" Santana smirks back.

"Yeah I wonder" I tease while moving so I can be closer to her and can put my arm around her. She smiles back at me before placing her head on my shoulder.

"This is probably the happiest I've ever been" Santana smiles at me.

"Do you think so?" I ask.

"Yeah don't you?" she replies. "I mean aren't you happy right now?" she asks looking up at me.

"Yeah I am happy but I think the happiest time for us will be when this little baby comes" I say while gently placing my hand on my stomach. "It's a really nerve wracking time right now with the uncertainty so once our baby is here then we can finally relax."

"I suppose that's true" Santana nods.

"I also feel bad for Aiden sometimes because even though he's still really young I still feel he needs a brother or sister. I mean of course he has us but it'll be good for him to have company close to his age because you and I have each other whereas he's an only child right now. I feel bad sometimes when we have nights like this" I admit.

"Yeah I know what you mean" she agrees.

XXX

"Hey are you ok, you've been really quiet the last 15 minutes or so?" Santana asks in concern.

"Yeah I'm fine" I wave it off.

"Are you sure?" she asks turning around to give me her full attention.

"Well I mean I have been feeling kinda funny recently" I admit.

"What like your mood feels a little off or do you mean you're in pain or something?" she asks worriedly.

"It's not a pain, it's just a weird feeling" I tell her.

"Where about?" she asks.

"I'll show you" I say while taking her hand in mine. I grip it tightly while moving it to near my stomach. "It's like right here" I say while moving her hand further down and placing it on the inside of my thigh.

"I see what this is, you're getting turned on" she smirks. "You don't feel off at all do you, you just want me?" she questions.

"Yeah you got me" I smirk back.

"If I didn't want you so bad right now I'd probably have gotten annoyed with you" she tells me. "You made me think there was something wrong with the baby and you weren't feeling well, you got me panicked for a second."

"I'm sorry but in all fairness it is true that I'm feeling something" I point out. "I might not be feeling ill but I am certainly feeling something."

* * *

Santana's POV

Saturday 20th March 2021

I'm sitting in the kitchen with Aiden giving him his breakfast when Brittany walks into the kitchen.

"Morning" she says cheerfully. She comes over to us and kisses Aiden on the head before going to the fridge to pour herself some juice. "Did you sleep well?" she asks turning around to look at me.

"Yeah I suppose I did" I shrug. "You?" I ask.

"I slept brilliantly since you were beside me" she smiles before walking over to the toaster. I'm slightly confused right now, I mean I like that Brittany is happy but she's in an unusually chipper mood this morning. I thought she might have been feeling a bit sick since her morning sickness is still here. "Have you eaten?" she asks me.

"Yeah I woke up quite early so I just ate while Aiden was still asleep. I would have made you something but I didn't want to wake you" I reply.

"It's ok babe, don't worry about it" she smiles. She makes herself some toast before sitting down at the table with Aiden and I.

"Can I get a kiss please?" I ask Aiden but he shakes his head.

"You can certainly get one from me" Brittany leans in and kisses me passionately.

"Oh…um…I was talking to Aid" I say blushing slightly. Don't get me wrong, it's not like we never kiss but recently Brittany has been a lot more affectionate with me and sometimes it catches me off guard. I can tell she's a lot happier at the moment and it really has reflected on our relationship in a good way.

"I know but he didn't reply so I took the opportunity" she smiles shrugging slightly. "I couldn't leave those beautiful lips without a kiss so I just jumped in."

"Ok" I smile back. "Why are you so cheerful this morning?" I ask curiously.

"It's the weekend and since I'm not working this week then I get to spend lots of time with you and Aiden" she replies. "I've got so much planned for us to do this week and it's going to be really fun" she tells me.

"Yeah I'm looking forward to a work free week this week" I admit. "Actually speaking of work, I have something in my work bag that I meant to take out. Can you keep an eye on Aiden for a second?" I say while getting up from the table.

"Yeah of course" Brittany smiles. A few seconds later I return to the kitchen with a wrapped present in my hand. "Baby no" she sighs as soon as she sees what I have. "Aiden has enough new things so I don't think he needs another gift. You spoil him more than you need to Santana."

"This is not for Aid, this is for you" I smile at her before handing her the gift.

"For me?" she asks surprised while taking the present anyway.

"Yeah for you from Aiden and me" I say.

"Ok" she smiles before beginning to unwrap it. "Babe you really shouldn't have, I love it" she says while taking the charm bracelet out of the box.

"It's got 3 charms on it already with an A, B and an S but there's space for another one once the baby comes" I tell her.

"I really love it so thank you" Brittany says while kissing me quickly before kissing Aiden. "You do realise you just mentioned the baby in front of Aiden right?" she whispers.

"Yeah I just realised but maybe we could just tell him because I don't like us keeping something from him" I say honestly. It's not like we didn't want to tell him but we just didn't want anyone to know too early but I honestly think it's going to be ok. Plus I'm not sure if he'll understand that much anyway so it's not like he'll tell everyone before we do.

"Yeah you're probably right" Brittany nods in agreement.

"Aid can you sit still for a minute please because mommy and I need to talk to you sweetheart" I say to Aiden.

"Ok" he shrugs while turning to look at me.

"You know how you wanted more people to play with?" I ask and he nods. "Well now you're going to get a little brother or sister to play with because mommy is carrying your sibling."

"Uh…" he looks at me confused for a second.

"There's going to be a baby soon sweetheart" Brittany tells him. "There's a baby in here and it's going to be your brother or sister" she says pointing to her stomach.

"Baby?" he asks pointing to Brittany's stomach.

"Yes that's right" I nod.

"Baby!" he screams excitedly once he realises what we mean.

"Yes a baby" I say laughing at him. He is just so cute sometimes.

"It won't be here for another little while though" Brittany tells him.

"Play with it?" Aiden asks looking up at me.

"Yes you can play with the baby as soon as it comes" I smile at him. "But for the time being, why don't you play with your teddy right now because he looks lonely and mommy and I need to tidy up" I say while handing him his teddy bear.

"He seemed to take that well didn't he?" Brittany says as we begin tidying up.

"Yeah he seemed to" I say while smiling over at Aiden. "Hey I was just thinking this family dinner might be a nice way to tell everyone tonight about the baby" I suggest.

"Yeah I agree" Brittany smiles.

XXX

We're all at my parents' house for dinner tonight. We don't get a lot of time to get together as a family and tonight everyone seemed free so my mom decided to invite everyone over and cook. Brittany's mom offered to help cook as well since there would be so many of us.

"This is nice isn't it, the whole family all together" my mom says as we all sit down to eat.

"Yeah it is mom" I say smiling at her.

"Apart from Christmas or thanksgiving we never have the whole family together so tonight is really nice" Brittany says.

"It's actually worked out quite well for us because Eva and I have something to say" Brittany's brother Scott says.

"Oh you do?" Brittany's mom asks confused.

"Yes we have a special announcement" Scott says excitedly. "Do you want to tell them babe or should I?" he asks looking at my sister.

"I'll do it" Eva smiles.

"Hurry up then" I say getting slightly impatient.

"Well…Scott and I are having a baby" Eva announces proudly.

"Well shit" I say shaking my head. I must admit I think it was slightly loud since everyone is now staring at me.

"Way to congratulate your sister Santana, thank you" Eva says sarcastically while glaring at me. "It's not like it's my first child or anything."

"Honey I'm sorry, it just slipped out" I say apologetically before everyone starts crowding around them to hug them and congratulate them.

"What was with the reaction anyway to Scott and Eva's news?" Emma asks looking at me.

"Because Britt and I kind of have something to say" I point out.

"Yeah we're sorry to steal your thunder guys but just tell them Santana" Brittany says looking at me.

"Ok" I squeal in excitement. "Well I'm having another baby."

"Wow I did not think that was physically possible but congratulations Santana" Eddie smirks.

"Ok so Brittany is having the baby but what I mean is I'm getting another baby" I say.

"Um excuse me" Brittany clears her throat.

"Sorry, we're both going to be parents again, not just me Brittany too" I say.

"Well we're all really happy for all of you" my dad says.

As soon as dinner is finished, we all help to clear up before going outside. We promised Aiden and Harry that we would all play a game outside with them. Brittany really wanted to join in so we figured football wasn't the best game to play for someone pregnant so we've settled on something with less physical contact.

"So who are the team captains?" my dad asks.

"Me!" I shout while waving my hand in the air. It's like a ritual with my siblings and I where I am always the team captain.

"Ok Santana but we need more than one since there are two teams" my dad says laughing.

"Alright well how about Emma because we all know she's as competitive as me and she and I like to compete with one another anyways" I suggest.

"I can be down with that" Emma nods.

"That's settled then, Santana and Emma are our team captains" my dad says. "If each of you just want to take turns picking someone for your team."

"Ok you can go first Santana since you were named captain first" Emma states.

"I agree" I smirk at her to wind her up before turning to everyone else. "Ok the obvious first choice for my team is Aiden" I say while going to pick him up.

"Mom I play" he says excitedly while moving about in my arms.

"That's right you're going to play" I smile at him before turning to Emma. "Your turn Em" I say smiling.

"It's Emma to you and I pick Brittany" she says smirking back at me.

"Bitch" I mutter under my breath because Brittany was clearly going to be on my team.

"Santana watch your language please around Aiden" my mom warns.

"Fine" I roll my eyes at her. "Ok so I'll pick Jason next" I say pointing to my brother. Eventually Emma and I pick our teams and we get started on the game. It's basically just a watered down game of baseball since we're playing with small children and several pregnant women. Not only is my wife and my sister pregnant but Kitty is about 7 months pregnant too so Eddie will never forgive me if something happened to her.

"Honey I'm about to bat and you're standing a little close to me. Maybe you should move over a little so you don't get hurt" I tell Brittany who is standing too close to me right now.

"Ok I'll move in a second but I want to say something first. If you mess up hitting the ball, I'll make it worth your while tonight" she smirks before moving away. Ok, this is a shitty situation. I obviously love Britt and would do anything for her but at the same time I'm really competitive so I really want to win this game and wipe the smug look off Emma's face.

"Santana are you ready because I'm going to throw the ball now" Scott states.

"Yeah, I'm sorry" I nod before getting into position to bat the ball. As soon as he throws it, I hit it as hard as I can before I take off running.

"Ok, fine" Brittany shrugs pretending not to care. "I know where your head is at tonight so I guess you don't want anything special from me."

"Baby I do but I had to hit that ball because you guys are way ahead of my team in points. I'll let your team win babe, I just can't let you win by that much though" I tell her honestly.

"It's ok, I understand. You want to win this game more than you want sex, its fine" she shrugs again.

After playing for another while, we eventually end the game. My team only just won by a very narrow margin but that doesn't mean I wouldn't tease Emma about losing. Even though I promised Brittany I would let Emma's team win, it was out of my control in the end because no matter how hard I tried to lose the game my teammates just played even better.

"So are you excited to get a little brother or sister Aiden?" my mom asks while picking him up.

"Yes" Aiden nods his head excitedly.

"Hey ask your mom and gran where babies come from Aid" Jason says smirking at me as he walks over to us.

"You think you're funny but the jokes on you because he's too young to even know how to ask that or what any of it means" I state.

"Ok whatever" Jason says waving it off. "Well I'm going to get a drink, do either of you want one?"

"No I'm ok thank you" I reply.

"Yeah I'm fine as well but thank you" my mom smiles.

"Ok" Jason smiles and then walks off.

"So how do you feel about getting all these grandkids?" I ask my mom. "You have two grandsons already and then Eddie is about to have his first child and now Britt and Eva are both pregnant."

"I'm looking forward to it but whenever all the kids come over at the one time it's going to be a very energetic night, I can feel it" she laughs.

"You should be used to it because you did raise 4 children" I reason.

"I know but it's been a really long time since I had 4 small children running around" she points out. "Anyway enough about me, what about you? I bet you're really looking forward to having another baby."

"Yeah I really am but I think that'll be it after that" I say honestly.

"Just 2 kids?" my mom asks surprised.

"Yeah I think so" I nod, slightly confused why my mom is surprised at that.

"Santana you used to always say you wanted at least 4 children because you loved having siblings. I mean yes you always tease each other but you 4 loved that" she replies.

"I know but I can't let myself think about that right now because I'm not sure it's what Brittany wants. This pregnancy isn't going to be easy on her so I think this is where we'll stop" I admit. I won't put any more pressure on Brittany plus Aiden and the new baby are going to be all I need.

"You're still young Santana so I wouldn't completely rule it out, never say never sweetheart" she tells me. "I mean I understand why Brittany might want to wait a little while but I can definitely see more children eventually."

"I suppose" I nod.

"Anyway come here, I want to hug my daughter to congratulate her" my mom smiles while putting one arm around me since she's holding Aiden in the other.

"Yes we know Santana is great and she's currently in the lead with giving you grandchildren but at least hug all your children mom" Jason shakes his head playfully while walking over to us with Quinn and Harry.

"Quinn you better watch yourself, 3 out of the 4 Lopez kids are all having children soon so Jason might surprise you one night and the next thing you know you'll be pregnant just like the rest of the ladies here" I smirk.

"I wouldn't mind that" Quinn smiles at Jason.

"Ok Santana, you went somewhere you didn't need to and now all you can see is your best friend's turned on face" I say scrunching my face up in disgust.

"Excuse me, how would you know that face" Jason asks worriedly.

"That's what I would like to know" Brittany says playfully while joining us.

"Of course I don't know it but I can only imagine that's what it was because it was a horrible face" I state.

"I see" Brittany nods. "Anyway I only came over here to say we should probably be going now because it's way later than Aiden's bedtime."

"Yeah you're right" I nod in agreement. "Well thank you for dinner mom, it was great" I say while taking Aiden from her.

"Yes it really was" Brittany smiles.

Once we get Aiden ready and say goodnight to everyone, we head home. Since it is pretty late for Aiden, we get him changed and put him straight to bed. I did have to read a short story to him first though because I knew he wouldn't fall asleep straight away.

"Just you and I now and a lovely big bed" I say as Brittany and I get changed.

"Yeah I suppose it is" she shrugs. "So would you like to use the bathroom first to get ready or shall I brush my teeth first?" she asks.

"Um…you go ahead" I say slightly confused at why she isn't taking my hint about the bed.

"Ok" she smiles before going to the bathroom. After about 5 minutes she comes back out. "It's free now" she smiles before getting into bed.

"Ok, I won't be long" I say while going into the bathroom to get ready. As soon as I'm done I join Brittany in bed.

"Well goodnight" she smiles before kissing my cheek and then turning around to face the opposite direction from me.

"Goodnight babe" I say laughing slightly at the whole situation. After giving it a second, I move to lie behind her and put my arms around her. "Are you tired?" I ask.

"Not really to be honest" she admits.

"Ok, good" I smirk to myself while moving again and gently pulling Brittany onto her back before straddling her. "For a minute I actually thought you were going to go to sleep" I say while leaning down to kiss her. Just as I'm about to reach her lips, she turns her head to the side so I end up kissing her cheek.

"Oh no, not tonight" she shakes her head. "You had your chance earlier baby and you blew it so we're not doing anything but sleeping."

"Wait, really?" I ask confused. I can't tell whether this is a joke or if she's serious.

"Yes really" she smirks.

"Babe you're smirking so I'm not sure if this is just to tease me or if you really mean it" I state.

"This was all your decision honey. You chose to win the game rather than have sex with me tonight so I'm just following your decision" she smiles.

"If we're really not going to do anything then why are you so happy right now?" I frown in confusion.

"Maybe because the sex isn't all that good anyways so I get more of a rush by not doing it than doing it. Do you get me?" she smiles again.

"We all know that's not true because you can't get enough of me sometimes plus you're the one that started this whole thing by saying what you did during the game earlier. If you didn't want it then you wouldn't have suggested making it worth my while" I tell her.

"Oh whatever" she waves it off realising I'm right.

"Look babe, cut the act and just admit you want me right now" I say smirking down at her.

"Ok fine, I want you so bad right now" she smiles.

"Good because I want you so bad too" I say while leaning down to kiss her.

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Friday 26th March 2021

I woke up before Brittany this morning so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to talk to the baby before Aiden wakes up. I'm lying half way down the bed so I'm closer to her stomach. I'm just telling the baby how much I can't wait until they come and how Brittany can teach them to dance and I can teach them to sing and be a kickass lawyer.

"I really hope you're talking to our baby and not my crotch because that would be one hell of a trick if my crotch could do that" Brittany says interrupting me.

"Hey, I thought you were still asleep" I say looking up to her and smiling.

"I was but when I heard you talking I couldn't stay asleep. What you were saying was so cute" she smiles down at me.

"I love you" I say kissing Brittany's stomach before sitting up, "and I love you" I say while taking Brittany's lips in a passionate kiss.

"We love you too" she smiles. "So I think I hear Aiden waking up so we should probably go and see to him."

"Yeah you're right" I smile while getting out of bed. We then make our way to Aiden's room where he is indeed wakening up.

"Good morning sweetheart" Brittany says while lifting him up.

"Yes good morning handsome" I tell him while tickling his chin. "Shall we go and get you some breakfast?"

"Yes" he replies quietly while nodding since he's still a bit tired. Once we get downstairs we all have breakfast together before going back upstairs to get Aiden changed.

"Quinn and I are going for a run this morning, is that ok?" I ask while getting changed.

"Of course it's ok, you don't need to ask me babe" Brittany smiles.

"I just wanted to make sure you'd be ok with Aiden that's all" I say.

"Yeah I'll be fine, just make sure you're back in time for our appointment" she tells me.

"I will be, don't worry. There's no way I'm going to miss that" I assure her.

"Ok" she smiles. "So do I have time for a quick shower before you go?" she asks.

"Yes why would you like me to join you" I tease.

"I mean I wouldn't really be opposed to that but I was more asking because I need you to keep an eye on Aiden when I'm in the shower" she replies.

"Ok well yes I can watch Aid, you have your shower babe" I say while kissing her cheek.

"Thank you" she smiles before going to the bathroom. Once Brittany is finished and ready for the day, I head out on my run with Quinn.

"So my best friend is having another baby" Quinn smiles at me.

"I'm not actually having it but I know what you mean" I smile.

"I haven't really had a chance to speak to you since I found out so how are things going?" she asks looking over at me as we jog through the park.

"Yeah everything is fine" I smile.

"You always wanted a few children so you must be so happy" she points out.

"Yeah" I nod.

"Ok that doesn't sound happy" Quinn frowns in confusion.

"No I am happy, I'm over the moon really" I say honestly. "I'm just trying to hold back a bit because I'm worried about Brittany. I mean yes she's really happy right now but I'm just worried as the pregnancy progresses that won't be the case" I admit.

"Because of the whole eating disorder that she went through?" she asks looking at me.

"Yeah and how stressed out about everything she was. I mean I've promised to be there for her and do everything that I can but I can't physically go into her brain and tell it everything will be ok, you know" I say.

"I understand but even though Brittany might still be scared about relapsing or whatever, she has been through it before so she'll know now what to look out for so I really think it will be ok" Quinn replies.

"I know but I hate it when Brittany isn't well" I say honestly. I mean who would like to watch the person they love battle something.

"You just need to take each day as it comes and enjoy this time while you can" she tells me. "Sometimes worrying about worrying makes you worry more if that makes sense."

"Yeah I get that but it's easier said than done" I reply.

"That's right but right now Brittany seems to be really happy so I would take a positive approach to things at the moment. There is no way Brittany is worried at this stage so neither should you be. I saw the way she was with you the other night and I'm 100% certain there's nothing to fear right now" she assures me.

"We've actually got the first scan later today" I say.

"Oh that's exciting" Quinn smiles.

"Yeah it is isn't it" I say realising that maybe I do need to relax a little more right now.

XXX

"Aiden no running in the hospital please" Brittany warns him.

"Mommy…doggy" Aiden says looking up at Brittany before turning around and pointing at another child's stuffed toy.

"I know sweetheart but it's not your doggy" she tells him.

"Look we're early for the appointment so how about I just go to the gift shop and buy him something?" I suggest.

"Absolutely not Santana" Brittany shakes her head at me.

"But he…"

"No more toys Santana" she replies firmly.

"At least let me go to the car then and see if he has a toy in there because he'll only get bored without something to play with" I say.

"Ok that's fine" Brittany nods.

"Ok I'll be back in a few minutes" I say while turning to way away.

"Hold on a second" Brittany says pulling me back. "You're not taking this with you because knowing you you'll likely go to the gift shop" she states while taking my purse from me.

"The car keys are in it though" I point out.

"No they're in your pocket" Brittany smirks.

"Oh yeah so they are" I say playing dumb.

"I know your games babe" she states. Truth be told I was going to hit the gift shop and get Aiden something but I guess I'm not as smart as I think since Brittany found out.

"I'll be back in a second ok" I say before quickly heading off to the parking lot. As soon as I find something in the car for Aiden to play with, I make my way back into the hospital. "Hey Aiden, what's this?" I ask while holding up one of his stuffed toys that are shaped into a car.

"Car" he says excited while taking it from me.

"Ok sit there and play with it nicely please, ok?" I say looking at him and he nods. "He seems satisfied now" I say while sitting down next to Brittany.

"Do you know, you and I are going to have an argument at some point Santana" she states.

"What, why?" I ask surprised.

"Because I told you no more toys for Aiden and you were still going to get him one. I know you love him and want to spoil him but he needs some boundaries sometimes because we can't have him growing up thinking his mom will buy him everything" she tells me seriously.

"Ok, I'm sorry" I say.

"I love you and I love that you love him so much but we just need to reign it in a little bit" she says. "I'm not saying though don't buy him anything, let's just maybe not buy him something every day we're out. Just now and again as a treat, ok?"

"Yeah" I smile. "Does the rules apply to you as well or can I buy you something?" she asks.

"You don't need to buy me anything babe, honestly" she tells me.

"It's nice to be romantic sometimes and give each other little presents" I point out.

"I know honey and we can still do that, just not all the time though" she smiles.

"Ok" I nod.

"Come here" she says while pulling me closer to her so she can kiss me. We're only sitting for another 5 minutes before Brittany's name is called so we get Aiden and head to the doctor's room.

"Hi everyone, come in and take a seat. Brittany if you just want to get comfortable on the table that would be good" the doctor smiles.

"Ok" Brittany nods.

"So how are we today?" the doctor asks.

"Pretty good actually" Brittany smiles. "I have Santana and Aiden with me so we're all excited for this today to see the baby."

"It feels like just yesterday you were here waiting to get your first ultrasound to see Aiden for the first time" the doctor smiles.

"Trust me, it feels like that to us too. I still can't believe Aiden is already one year old" I say smiling down at Aiden.

"Anyway I'm sure you're dying to get this scan done so let's make a start" the doctor smiles. "So Brittany, how is the morning sickness?"

"It's actually eased off quite a bit recently. It started off really bad but honestly I'm either used to it now or it's really not there because it doesn't even bother me" Brittany smiles.

"That's good then" the doctor nods. "Have you had any concerns so far this pregnancy?" she asks.

"Not really, no" Brittany says looking over at me.

"No everything seems to be going well so far" I smile.

"Excellent, I'll get started then" the doctor says while putting some gloves on. "Ok so if you want to just lift your shirt up for me Brittany that would be good" she says and Brittany does that. "I'm just going to put some gel on you but it's a bit cold."

"That's ok" Brittany smiles. The doctor puts some gel on her stomach and then starts the ultrasound machine. She moves the probe about for a few seconds before she settles it.

"There we go, that right there is your baby" the doctor says pointing to the screen.

"Oh wow" I say in amazement. "Aid can you see that sweetheart" I say while pointing to the screen. "That is your little brother or sister" I tell him.

"So does everything look ok then?" Brittany asks turning her attention to the doctor.

"Yes everything looks great" the doctor smiles. "Shall I print some photos for you" she asks and Brittany nods.

"Are you crying?" Brittany asks shocked looking at me.

"Yeah, I'm sorry" I apologise while wiping away my tears. "I was just thinking about how close we were to not having this, you know?"

"Oh honey" Brittany says squeezing my hand.


	31. Short Vacation

Chapter 31: Short Vacation

Santana's POV

Monday 29th March 2021

I'm just in the kitchen preparing dinner when I hear Brittany walk into the room. She makes her way over to me and grabs my arm before twirling me around so I'm facing her.

"Kiss me" she instructs looking straight into my eyes.

"What?" I nervously ask, slightly confused about what's going on.

"Kiss me" she says again so I don't waste any more time, I lean up and kiss her passionately.

"What's going on babe?" I ask when we pull away from the kiss and she wraps her arms around me.

"We've been through a lot recently but we're happier now so I'm taking advantage of that" she says. "I was trying to be sexy and forceful but I'm not really that kind of person" she smiles.

"Don't get me wrong, I love that you're happy but you might be about to get pissed in two seconds" I say.

"What are you talking about?" Brittany asks giving me a confused look.

"Why don't you sit down" I say gesturing to the table.

"Ok" Brittany says still confused but sits down anyway.

"So baby I need to talk to you about something" I say sitting down at the table across from Brittany. "Ok I need to go to New York for work for 2 days next week."

"Oh" Brittany replies surprised.

"I did try and get out it but I really can't" I admit.

"This is probably the first time I'm going to be alone with Aiden for 2 whole days" she points out. "Actually maybe I could get my mom to come and stay with me while you're gone. I mean I know a lot of people like single moms will need to live themselves with their child but I don't know if I'm ready for that yet" she says.

"No babe you don't need to worry because I want you to come with me if you can" I tell her.

"But what about Aiden?" she asks.

"My mom offered to come and stay here for the 2 days while we're gone so she can look after Aiden. Or alternatively I can move things around a little and we can just take him with us" I say. Of course I don't want to leave him but at the same time the two days will be about work so I don't know how much time I'll get with him and the travelling might be a lot for him to handle.

"Which would you prefer?" Brittany asks.

"Well I really want him to come with us but is it fair of us taking him away on such short notice and for only 2 days. The travelling might be a lot for him since it's a quick turnaround. I mean we get there and then no sooner will be we need to come home" I say.

"It's not that far away plus we've took Aiden on vacation before" Brittany points out.

"So we'll all go together then?" I ask for clarification.

"Yeah" Brittany nods with a smile. "I think it might be fun if all three of us went together. It can be like a little family trip" she says.

"Yeah I agree" I say. "Anyway I should get back to making dinner" I say while getting up from the table.

"Do you need some help?" Brittany asks.

"No it should be ok but maybe you could check on Aiden for me. He's still napping just now but he's been sleeping for a while so I don't know if he might actually be awake now" I say.

"Ok" Brittany smiles and then goes to check on Aiden. She comes back into the kitchen 10 minutes later with Aiden in her arms.

"Hi Aid, are you ready for some dinner?" I ask while walking over to Brittany and kissing Aiden. He looks at me sleepily and nods his head.

"He was just wakening up when I walked into the room so I think he's still a little sleepy" Brittany says while bouncing Aiden in her arms gently. "I'm just going to see if he needs changed and then I'll be back in a second" she smiles.

"Ok" I nod. "Dinner shouldn't be too long" I tell her and then she leaves. As soon as she comes back, we all sit down to dinner together.

"So how was your day?" she asks looking at me.

"Ok" Aiden shrugs.

"That's good Aid" she smiles at Aiden. "And how was your day Santana" she asks while turning to look at me again.

"I did some work in the morning and then Aiden helped me colour in some things" I smile. Aiden is quite good with a highlighter so I got him to highlight a few work documents for me. He didn't know exactly what he was highlighting though but it kept him occupied and it did actually help me to read them better.

"Sounds fun" she smiles.

* * *

Brittany's POV

Thursday 8th April 2021

Santana, Aiden and I are currently on the aeroplane on our way to New York. I was a bit worried initially that I wouldn't be allowed to take a few days off work at such short notice but after clearing it with my manager everything is now all good. I've got to say I'm really looking forward to the few days away because this will be the first time we've went away together just the 3 of us.

I'm just reading the baby book I had with me when suddenly I feel something heavy on my shoulder. I turn my head and notice Santana has her head rested on my shoulder and she is fast asleep. I move my arm slightly so I can place it around her and I pull her in closer to me. Aiden meanwhile is sitting on the other seat next to me looking out of the window.

"Aid do you want to help mommy look at some baby names?" I ask looking at him.

"No" Aiden shakes his head while giving me a slight glare as if I've asked him something offensive.

"Alright then" I say laughing. I swear to god his mannerisms and facial expressions are just like Santana's. "Are you just going to look out the window?" I ask him.

"Yes" he nods his head. "S'tana too" he says while holding up his teddy bear. Santana being the delight that she is insisted that Aiden name one of his teddy bears after her. Unfortunately though he hasn't quite grasped how to say Santana properly yet.

"Ok" I smile at him. I continue reading the book for another 10 minutes before I start to need the bathroom. As much as it pains me to wake Santana up when she's asleep I need to because I can't leave Aiden on his own. "Babe…babe" I say shaking Santana lightly.

"Yeah" Santana replies tiredly while lifting her head from my shoulder.

"I need to go to the bathroom so can you keep an eye on Aiden for me?" I ask her.

"Of course" Santana smiles while rubbing her eyes to make herself more awake. She then gets up to let me out of my seat before sitting back down but on my seat this time since its closer to Aiden.

"I won't be a second" I smile at her before going to the bathroom. As soon as I come back, I notice Santana and Aiden deep in conversation.

"Oh hey babe" Santana smiles while looking up at me. "Do you want your seat back?" she asks while standing up.

"No it's fine, you sit there since you're talking to Aiden" I smile while sitting down on the aisle seat. "So what are you two talking about?" I ask.

"It's a secret" Santana smirks. As much as that's cute that she and Aiden have secrets, I sometimes find myself feeling slightly left out.

"Fine" I shrug pretending I don't care even though I do.

"You will find out soon" she replies, obviously noticing how I feel.

"No you don't need to tell me, I'm just being silly I guess" I say. It's just a little frustrating sometimes because Aiden didn't want to talk to me earlier but now he can't get enough of Santana.

"It's a surprise for you that's why I can't tell you" Santana says while taking my hand in hers. "But like I say you will know very soon" she smiles and I nod.

As soon as the plane lands, we get off and make our way through the airport to reclaim our luggage. We then head to the exit where we grab a cab and head to the hotel.

"So I've got a meeting right away but I'll come and get settled into the hotel with you" Santana tells me. "Once my meeting is done then I'll treat you both to dinner and maybe we can go for a little walk or something" she suggests.

"Sounds good" I smile. Once we arrive at the hotel, we check in and go to our room.

"Ok so I need to quickly change but please leave the unpacking to me when I get back. I want you and Aiden to relax when I'm gone" Santana says.

"What are we supposed to do stuck in the hotel room then?" I ask. "I was going to let Aiden nap so what am I supposed to do myself for hours?"

"I'm hoping to only be an hour baby so just put your feet up and watch some TV or I'll grab you the Wi-Fi password from downstairs and you can do a little work on your laptop" she tells me. Even though I managed to get this time off at short notice, I told my boss I'd do some work while I was away.

"Actually maybe that's an idea and get some of my work out of the way so we can have some time together this trip" I smile.

"Ok well I'll ask on my way out and I'll text you the password" Santana replies.

XXX

Santana was reasonably quick at her meeting so we quickly changed and then headed out to dinner. Santana decided to take us to a restaurant just down the street from the hotel we're staying at so we just walked there.

"Is your food good Aiden?" I ask him.

"Yes mommy" he smiles at me.

"Is your food ok, you haven't eaten much" Santana says looking at me.

"Yeah my food is good, I just snacked a little bit when you were at your meeting so I'm not as hungry" I reply honestly. I can see the unease on Santana's face though because she always gets worried when I don't eat given my past. "Honestly honey, I just ate too much earlier but maybe later we can order some room service if I get hungry" I tell her.

"Ok" she smiles satisfied.

"So what are your plans tomorrow?" I ask.

"I have a meeting at 10am and then I need to do some work after that but I'm hoping Saturday is free and the 3 of us can all do something fun together" she replies.

"Well I suppose I could do some work as well and take Saturday off" I suggest.

"There's a waterpark that I thought we could take Aiden to" Santana says.

"Sounds good, let's do that on Saturday" I smile.

Once we finished dinner, we went for a walk like Santana said we would. Santana had to pretty much carry Aiden the whole way though because he was getting tired. We've now just got back to the hotel and have got Aiden settled in bed.

"Aiden is sleeping right now and it's still early so shall we unpack our stuff?" I suggest.

"We could do that or we could do something very different" Santana says wrapping her arms around me.

"I like the sound of something different" I say while placing my hands on Santana's hips. We look into each other's eyes for a moment before Santana leans in and kisses me. As I begin kissing back, we slowly move to the living room area of the suite and sit down on the couch. With Aiden in the bedroom, it would just feel so weird to do something in the same room as him so it's better in the living room.

"Is the couch going to be too uncomfortable for you?" Santana asks in concern, pausing for a moment.

"No it's fine babe, I promise" I smile at her before leaning her back on the couch and kissing her.

"With you being pregnant I just thought…"

"Thank you for caring but I'll be fine" I assure her. I'm not even that far into the pregnancy yet so I think I'll be ok laying on the couch with Santana.

"Ok" Santana smiles while leaning up to kiss me. As the kiss heats up, I feel her sit up slightly and begin to lean me back against the couch so she's hovering over me this time.

"Am I not good enough at being on top?" I tease.

"No you are but I just feel better about this when you're pregnant because I don't want you to put any weight on your stomach" she replies before kissing me. I would reply and assure her I would be fine but I know she's just trying to take care of me so I'll let it go. "Wait a second" Santana says pulling away slightly.

"What's wrong babe?" I ask in concern.

"Should we really be doing this on a couch, I mean this is a hotel and goodness knows who has been here before us" she says.

"Well I don't mean to be rude but I'm not doing it in the bed when Aiden is in the room. That just feels really weird to me honey" I point out.

"Why don't we find some sheets to put down on the couch or something?" she suggests.

"Ok" I nod with a smile. As soon as we get the couch prepared, we waste no time in getting comfortable again.

* * *

Santana's POV

Friday 9th April 2021

"Brittany, stop it" I laugh.

"Hmm?" she asks like she doesn't know what she's doing.

"Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about because you do" I tell her while scooting back slightly until I'm fully against the back of the couch.

"I have no idea what you're talking about Santana" she says while also moving back so she can continue to rub her butt against my quickly hardening crotch. We were just lying peacefully in each other's arms with me lying behind Brittany when I felt her start to grind against my crotch slowly.

"I need to get up and shower in 5 minutes to get ready for my meeting so we really don't have time for me to get hard" I point out regrettably.

"Oh we've got time babe" she says while turning around so she's facing me with a very cheeky smirk on her face.

"No baby we don't" I say in the most confidence voice I have which ironically doesn't even sound that confident since Brittany's wandering hands are quickly moving south.

"If I use my hand I could get you off really quickly unless you would really rather I didn't" she says.

"No I want this" I nod vigorously, "I just really don't think we have time."

"You're going to have to make time then babe because either I get you off or you get yourself off in the shower. Either way babe you're going to have to get rid of your little friend before your meeting so which option suits you best?" she asks smirking.

"The first one obviously" I smirk back while leaning in to kiss Brittany. Luckily enough we're wearing very little after last night's activities so it won't waste time in getting undressed.

"Good" Brittany smiles. As soon as I feel her hand wrap around me I'm almost gone instantly. It's almost embarrassing really how quickly I get like that but there's just something about the way Brittany does what she does.

"Shit Brittany…why are you so sexy" I moan out.

"Trust me I'm not the sexy one" she says while continuing to move her hand.

"Oh shit, I'm almost there already" I say moaning even louder. I immediately stop though when I feel Brittany moving to the other end of the couch. "Brittany I don't think…"

"I'll be careful Santana plus you said you're almost there so I won't be lying like this long" she says while leaning down to take my length in her mouth. I don't want her like that for too long in case she accidently puts weight on her stomach. She's barely got her lips around me that long when I feel myself cum already. She does her best to take it all in her mouth although it drips down her chin slightly.

"That felt so good" I smile while helping Brittany move back up the couch to lie next to me as she wipes her chin with her hand. I then lean in and kiss her.

"I'm glad" she smiles as we pull away from the kiss. "I guess we should get up now" she says while standing up.

"What about you though?" I ask while also getting off the couch.

"Make it up to me later" she smiles.

"But I feel bad because…"

"Honestly just make it up to me later. Watching you cum is just as pleasant for me as it is for you" she smiles again.

"If you're sure" I smile. "Well I definitely need to get ready now for my meeting" I say while trying to walk to the bathroom.

"No I think we can spare another few minutes" Brittany says while pulling me towards her.

"You're killing me baby because I really need to get ready but I can't say no to that face" I smile.

"Ok fine, on you go" she says releasing the hold on me.

"Ok" I smile while walking towards the bathroom. "Hey I wouldn't be opposed to a little company if you wanted to help me wash" I turn my head to look at her smirk.

"That's a great idea" she says while running over to me. "I also think…"

"Mommy…mom?" I hear Aiden curiously ask from the bedroom.

"On second thoughts I better not join you babe" Brittany smiles. "You get ready and I'll get Aiden up and changed."

"Ok" I smile while going to the bathroom while Brittany heads to the bedroom.

XXX

I've just walked into the hotel room after my long meeting and all I want to do is throw myself to the couch and rest. It was so emotionally draining because the client I was meeting with just wasn't listening to me and when he was, I couldn't really understand what he wanted from me. He wants me to represent him but I don't think we have a very good case to take to the court. I'm not one to judge but what he was asking wasn't exactly reasonable.

"Uh…hi" Brittany says nervously when she sees me.

"So what's going on, why do you look so nervous?" I ask confused as I walk closer to her.

"Please don't go mad but Aiden and I did a little bit of shopping" Brittany says nervously.

"A little bit?" I ask laughing as I look at all the bags on the floor.

"I was just getting really panicked about when we'd sort things for the baby so I thought why not do some shopping now before I'm too big and too sore to be walking around shops" she admits.

"Honey that's ok" I smile while taking her hand.

"You have no idea what a weight has been lifted from me. I'm just so relieved I actually have something for the baby to wear when it arrives" Brittany says honestly. "I know we don't know the gender yet but I figured I couldn't go wrong with buying a bunch of things in neutral colours like white or yellow."

"I'm happy you feel better but I could have did all this babe because I don't like the thought of you walking around carrying all these heavy bags, especially with a one year old" I say. I just really want Brittany to be as relaxed as possible during this pregnancy.

"Honestly it's ok. I wanted to do this and I had a lot of fun and so did Aiden I think. He was picking out lots of really cool stuff for the baby" she smiles at me in reassurance. Just talking about the baby and seeing Aiden and Brittany again has really made me forget about my crappy morning.

"Where is Aiden?" I ask as I notice he's not in the room.

"He's in the bedroom having a nap. I think the shopping did actually tire him out even though he enjoyed it" she replies.

"Well since Aiden is down for his nap, do you want to take a special nap with me and we can finish where we left off earlier" I wink at her.

"I would love to but I can't" Brittany replies with a sigh. "I've just got tons of emails I need to go through right now since I didn't do any work this morning."

"No I get it" I smile. I totally understand because I'd rather have Brittany here with me working than have us in different states where we couldn't see each other for a few days.

"How about later though I treat you and Aid to dinner and maybe you and I can spend some time together when we get back and put him to bed?" she suggests.

"Sounds good babe" I smile. "Anyway I might get changed and have a rest while you do some work stuff" I say while walking towards the bedroom.

"Ok but try and be quiet because I don't want Aiden to wake up. I really struggled to get him to nap but if I let him skip it he'd only end up sleeping through dinner tonight" she replies.

"I'll be as quiet as a mouse" I tell her and she smiles. I then make my way to the bedroom and get changed. Once I'm ready, I lie on the couch and watch some TV while Brittany sits at the table with her laptop.

After resting for a while, I got ready and changed for dinner before getting Aiden sorted. The three of us then left the hotel and as promised Brittany treated us to dinner. The restaurant was a little further away than last night so we grabbed a cab there. The meal was really nice and after we finished we went for a bit of a walk before getting a cab and heading back to the hotel.

Aiden is currently fast asleep in his bed and Brittany and I are lounging on the couch together. We're watching a movie on the TV but I'm getting kinda bored of it so I lean forward to kiss Brittany.

"What are you up to?" she smiles.

"I'm showing my wife how much I love her" I smile back.

"I like that" she says before yawning.

"Are you ok baby?" I ask.

"I'm sorry, I'm just really tired tonight" Brittany admits. "The shopping and then doing all that work really tired me out."

"That's ok, we can just cuddle tonight" I smile.

"Thank you" she smiles back.

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8 days later - Saturday 17th April 2021

Aiden is with my parents just now and he is going to spend the night with them. My parents were dying to spend some time with him so I made sure to schedule it on a good day for Brittany and me as well so that we could have some quality time together. We're currently at lunch in a restaurant having a bit of a date. I wanted to treat Brittany to a nice meal after she had a busy week at work but because I'm not that great of a cook, I decided going to a restaurant would be better. We were going to go out for something to eat at night but we ended up doing some shopping today so figured we might as well go to lunch instead of dinner while we were out.

Our food has just arrived so we're just eating and catching up with each other.

"How are you feeling today" I smile at Brittany. I make sure I ask her as much as I can about how she's feeling regarding the pregnancy.

"Good, I guess" she replies quietly. I can tell by her tone that she's not her usual cheerful self.

"What's wrong baby?" I ask in concern while reaching over to take her hand in mine.

"I'm scared something is going on with me because I've been having aversions to certain foods recently" she admits. "It's not like just the occasional things, it's a lot of different foods."

"So it's nothing to do with the pregnancy then?" I ask. I know when Brittany was pregnant with Aiden then she went through a stage of not liking some foods that she usually loves and loving the foods she used to hate.

"I don't know really but it seems a lot different from my pregnancy with Aiden. It's not just a couple of things, it's like I don't want to eat at all sometimes" she admits. I've got to say, this is really starting to worry me now.

"Have you been sick at all?" I ask.

"Not since the morning sickness stopped" she replies.

"Have you been feeling anxious about the pregnancy and stuff?" I ask in concern.

"I suppose I have a little bit because I'm actually pregnant now" she replies. "Before it was just morning sickness but I still felt like me but now I actually look pregnant so it's hitting me more."

"Ok" I nod in understanding. "Do you not like how you look?"

"I'm not saying that exactly, I just mean I'm more reminded now because it actually shows that I'm pregnant" she tells me.

"Do you think there's a correlation between eating and how you look at the moment?" I ask. I mean she might just look pregnant and not be hungry but it doesn't necessarily mean she feels she shouldn't eat because of how she looks.

"I don't think so right now but what if there is in time?" she replies.

"Then we will deal with it babe" I say reassuring her. "Whatever happens you have me and our whole family to support you."

"I know but I just hate how unpredictable things are" she sighs. "I mean 8 days ago we were on our mini vacation and we were having so much fun and now look at me" she shakes her head.

"Honey don't be so hard on yourself" I say squeezing her hand to reassure her. "There's nothing to get overly concerned about right now so let's just take each day as it comes" I tell her. She's having a few aversions to food but she is still eating when she doesn't want to so we don't need to panic right now.

"Ok" Brittany smiles slightly.

XXX

Once we finished lunch, we headed back home to just hang out and relax just the two of us. I love my son but I'm looking forward to just hanging out with Britt and doing nothing. I'm just in the kitchen pouring us some water when someone rings the doorbell.

"I'll get it" I hear Brittany say as she comes downstairs. When we got home, we decided to change into something comfier but I was ready first so I went downstairs before Brittany.

"Ok" I shout through. After a few moments, I hear the door close and Brittany walk towards the kitchen. "Who was it?" I ask.

"Just a delivery" Brittany replies as she walks into the kitchen.

"Oh nice flowers, are they for me?" I ask looking at a big bouquet of flowers in her hands.

"No they're for me actually" she smiles.

"Babe I didn't send you those" I frown in confusion.

"I know that, you're not the only person that can get me flowers" she points out. "They're from someone at work…a patient actually. I helped them through physiotherapy after an operation and it was the last day yesterday that they needed my help."

"Oh that's nice" I smile.

"He was a nice guy, about my age actually" Brittany points out.

"Oh right" I say, my interest has suddenly piqued now. "And was this nice guy single?" I ask.

"Yeah I think he was actually, I don't tend to go into things too personally unless they offer up the information" she replies.

"Ok" I nod. I don't know if I like some young single guy giving my pregnant wife flowers. It's overstepping the boundaries a little I would say.

"So you've never been given flowers before from a client who wanted to thank you for taking their case?" Brittany asks.

"I guess I have" I shrug.

"Then what's the big deal?" Brittany asks looking at me.

"It's not a big deal" I state.

"Really because your tone says otherwise?" she questions.

"Ok so it's a little weird that some guy gets my wife flowers. I'm the one who is supposed to buy you flowers" I say.

"Honey he was just thanking me so please don't get weird about this" she smiles. "If it helps the only flowers I truly like being given are the ones from you" she says while sitting the flowers down and walking over to me.

"Ok" I smile.

"And to be honest with you he wasn't all that attractive anyways" she says while taking hold of my hand.

"You're just saying that" I state.

"Trust me I'm not, no one has anything on you. You're the hottest person I know, not just the hottest girl but the hottest person ever" she smiles.

"I love you" I say pulling her into a hug.

"I love you too" she replies.

"Come on, let's go and sit down and watch a movie or something" I say pulling away and picking up our water.

"Ok" she smiles and then I carry the water to the living room with Brittany following behind. We sit down on the couch together and I switch the TV on.

"How are you feeling now about everything?" I ask.

"Ok I guess but I am quite tired if I'm honest" Brittany admits.

"Feel free to get comfortable and fall asleep on me while I watch a movie" I say adjusting my position slightly so I can put my arm around her and she can lean into me.

* * *

Brittany's POV

Thursday 24th June 2021

Aiden was really reluctant to go to sleep tonight so Santana suggested she take a little drive with him and see if he would fall asleep in the car. I was feeling quite exhausted so Santana said I could stay at home and luckily I did though because Emma arrived to visit not long after. After I made her some coffee, we went to the living room and caught up.

"Have I ever told you that you're my favourite sister" Emma smiles at me.

"I'm your only sister Emma" I tell her with a slight chuckle.

"Ok so you're my favourite sibling then" Emma states.

"Look what's going on?" I ask. Emma is acting really weird right now. I mean we've always had a close relationship but we don't make a habit of telling each other we're one another's favourites, it's always just sort of been known.

"Well I've been living in my own apartment for some time now so I don't think I could cope moving back in with mom and dad but I think I'm going to have to unless you can help me" Emma replies.

"Why would you need to move back in with them?" I say frowning in confusion.

"Because there's a problem with the plumbing in the whole building so it's going to take several days to fix so I'm basically going to be without a bathroom or any hot water" she states.

"Ok so how can I help?" I ask still not seeing the point.

"Can I maybe crash here for a few days?" she asks. "I mean it's way too soon to be asking Artie, Ben has two male roommates so that's a no and I would ask Scott but he and Eva have a lot going on with the pregnancy and everything."

"Um...excuse me but I'm pregnant too you know" I laugh.

"I know you are" Emma sighs. "Ok so that's not why I don't want to ask them. I just feel more comfortable around you Brittany than I do around our brothers. There's nothing wrong with them but they're not as close as you and I are."

"I see" I nod understanding what she's saying.

"I know I'm asking a lot of you but it's only for a few days and I promise to buy the groceries or help around the house. I mean I'll even pay my way" she tells me.

"Look I'm happy for you to stay for a few days but let me ask Santana" I say. It's only right she's included in this since this is her house too.

"That'll be a no then" Emma rolls her eyes.

"What do you mean?" I ask confused.

"You know Santana doesn't like me so there's no way she's going to let me crash here for a few days" Emma replies.

"Santana does like you and I know you like her too. You two just love winding each other up but I know at the end of the day you would look out for one another" I say honestly. It's no secret they always annoy each other but I think that's just their relationship.

"Yeah maybe" Emma says just as I hear the door open which is most likely Santana coming home. After a few seconds Santana walks into the room carrying our sleeping son.

"What's going on in here?" Santana asks quietly so she doesn't wake Aiden.

"Actually Emma and I need to ask you a big favour" I say nervously.

"No I'm sorry that is way too weird for me" Santana shakes her head.

"What are you talking about, you don't even know what we need to ask you" I frown.

"I know what you want to ask and I'm going to pass" Santana states. "I'm happy with you Brittany and you alone so I don't want a threesome with you and your sister."

"Oh for goodness sake Santana" I roll my eyes at her.

"So you weren't going to ask me that?" Santana questions.

"Oh hell no" Emma says repulsed by the thought.

"I'll have you know I'm good in bed, just ask Brittany" Santana says smiling over at me.

"Yeah I don't need to know that" Emma shakes her head.

"Ok so what did you want to ask me?" Santana asks while sitting down next to me with Aiden still in her arms.

"We were wondering if Emma could stay here for a few days" I ask.

"What's wrong with her place?" Santana asks.

"The building has plumbing issues and it's going to take a few days to sort out" I reply. "It would be too weird to ask my parents and she doesn't want to live with either of my brothers."

"Ok well I guess she can" Santana smiles.

"You don't want to fight this?" I ask confused.

"No because I get it" Santana shrugs. "I couldn't live with my parents once I've experienced living by myself and I don't know if I'd want to live with my brothers either when I have a sister I'm more comfortable around."

"Ok well you can move in whenever you need to" I tell Emma.

"They don't start until Saturday so I'll move in then" Emma replies gratefully. "I really appreciate this Brittany" she says hugging me.

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure you'd do it for me too" I smile.

"Well I better get home now" Emma says pulling out of the hug. "Artie is coming over so I don't want him outside waiting on me."

"I'll see you Saturday then" I tell her.

"Yeah" she smiles. "Night-night Aiden" she says quietly while leaning down to kiss his head gently before I walk her to the door followed by Santana. "Bye Santana" she says stepping outside.

"Bye" Santana smiles. Once we wave Emma off, we shut the door and make our way upstairs with Aiden.

"Are you honestly ok with this babe?" I ask.

"Of course" she smiles. "Obviously Emma and I have a weird relationship so this is going to be interesting but I'm not going to turn away family."

"Ok" I smile.

* * *

I'm undecided if the baby should be a boy or girl so let me know if you have any preferences.


	32. House Guest

Chapter 32: House Guest

Santana's POV

Saturday 26th June 2021

Emma has just arrived to stay with us for a few days so Brittany is going through a few things with her. She has obviously been to our house many times before but Brittany just wanted to make sure Emma gets settled in ok and knows where everything is. I'm just following them around with Aiden in my arms. I just need to make sure Brittany doesn't leave anything out because this is still our house so I need to make sure Emma knows the rules.

"Honestly just treat this like you would your own house" Brittany says. "Aiden has a bit of a specific routine when he's going to childcare but there's enough bathrooms to use anyway so don't worry about getting in the way or anything" she smiles.

"Ok" Emma smiles back.

"Ok so this is going to be your room while you're here but you don't need to be in it all the time. Just hang out wherever you want to" Brittany says.

"Yeah but just don't come into my bedroom, that is way off limits for you" I add.

"Yeah it didn't really cross my mind to go to your room" Emma states. "I walked in on you two having sex before and that still chills me to this day so I really don't need a refresher."

"Yeah somehow I think that's not going to happen again" Brittany states. "Anyway as I was saying feel free to hang out wherever you want and help yourself to whatever you want from the kitchen."

"Ok but let me know when you normally go to the grocery store and I'll go instead. Buying some groceries is the least I can do if you're letting me stay here" Emma smiles at Brittany.

"We go Sundays at 8am" I cheekily smile at Emma.

"Um…ok" Emma nods. "It's a little early on a Sunday for me usually but I'll do that tomorrow" Emma replies.

"Don't be silly, you don't need to do that" Brittany shakes her head. "We don't go every Sunday, just whichever day we need to go and it's not at 8am on a day off so don't worry" she assures Emma.

"Ok well let me know when I need to go and I'll go" Emma nods.

"I will" Brittany replies.

"Anyway I think it's probably time for lunch now so will I just get you all in the kitchen?" I ask.

"Yeah" Brittany smiles.

"Ok" I nod before turning and walking downstairs with Aiden to the kitchen. "So Aiden what shall we make for lunch?" I ask him while bouncing him slightly in my arms. He shrugs his shoulders before leaning his head against me and closing his eyes. "Are you tired sweetie?" I ask.

"No" he replies quietly but I can tell that he is.

"Come on let's go for a nap" I say while going to the study. Just as I'm about to lay him down, I feel him keep a tight grip on my shirt.

"M-mom…no" Aiden says resisting by kicking his feet slightly. "No" he repeats starting to get teary.

"Sweetie you need to take a nap" I tell him. Its kills me when he gets upset and I really hate doing this when I know he doesn't want to but he has to take a nap.

"No!" he says louder getting even more upset.

"Do you want mommy to come down here?" I ask and he quickly quietens down. I know I should be more authoritative with him and using Brittany to get him to do something isn't the way. Brittany just always knows how to not give in to Aiden. "Come on, let's get you settled" I say while laying him down. After a few minutes he begins to fall asleep so I make my way to the kitchen to start lunch.

"Hey where's Aiden?" Brittany asks while walking into the kitchen with Emma.

"He was starting to get tired so I've put him down for a nap and I'll make him something to eat later on" I reply while continuing to make the food.

"Ok" Brittany smiles.

XXX

Once we finished lunch, I went to the dining room to do some work since Aiden was still in the study. Brittany said she'd make Aiden something to eat when he woke up and I could keep working if I wanted. I don't usually make a habit of working on Saturdays but I'm just trying to do as much work as I can just now when I have the time before the baby comes along. We've still got a good few months left before that but I want to be as prepared as possible to take the pressure off Brittany.

After working for a while, I decide to go and see what the others are up to. When I walk into the kitchen, Brittany and Aiden are sitting at the table.

"Hey" I say walking into the room.

"Hi" Brittany smiles.

"Where's your sister?" I ask noticing Emma isn't in the room.

"In the living room on the phone. Someone from her work called and it sounded important so she went to talk in private" Brittany replies.

"I see" I nod. "So what's going on in here, are you two colouring in some pictures?" I ask noticing some colouring utensils scattered around the table.

"We are and Aiden is drawing you a picture" she smiles at me.

"Oh well I can't wait to see it" I smile at Aiden just as Emma walks into the kitchen.

"Hey is everything ok, do you need to go into work?" Brittany asks.

"Yeah it's all sorted so thankfully I don't need to go in" Emma smiles while sitting down next to Brittany at the table.

"Oh lucky me" I say sarcastically but I don't really mean it.

"Be nice please" Brittany says seriously while looking at me.

"It's just a joke honey, I promise" I smile at her and she nods.

"Aiden and I are colouring in some pictures, do you want to help?" Brittany asks looking at Emma.

"Sure" Emma replies. "I love colouring in pictures with my nephew, we always have fun don't we Aiden" she says leaning over to affectionately pat Aiden on the head.

"Do you want to help?" Brittany asks me.

"I'm ok but I will sit with Aiden and wait on my picture" I say sitting between Aiden and Emma.

"Ok" Brittany nods before going back to her picture.

"Hey sweetheart, how about we try this with the other hand" I say taking the pen from Aiden's right hand and placing it in his left hand.

"Santana no" Brittany states firmly while shaking her head.

"But I want him to be left handed" I reply nonchalantly.

"Yeah and I want to be a supermodel" she states sarcastically causing me to roll my eyes. "Look just let him do whatever he feels comfortable with" she reasons.

"He might be comfortable with his left hand though, he won't know until he tries" I tell her.

"He's only 17 months old Santana, I think he has plenty of time to change his mind once he's a little more coordinated. He's just doing what is comfortable just now but when he can actually write then maybe he'll use his left hand" Brittany points out.

"Ok fine" I say giving up.

"So is this what marriage and motherhood is like, you just disagree over what hand to write with?" Emma asks. "I mean if it is then I'm in for a boring ride of my life in the years to come" she shakes her head.

"I'd rather disagree over that than be alone on a Saturday night" I smirk at Emma.

"I'm not going to be alone, I have my sister and nephew to hang out with tonight" she smirks back.

"Yeah but if you weren't living with us just now you would be at home alone" I point out. "I mean your life must be so good if Saturday nights are as exciting as sitting at home alone with a puzzle."

"First of all, I do more exciting things than puzzles. You caught me doing a crossword once so let it go please, it's not something I do regular" Emma states. "And furthermore this would be one of a very select few Saturdays I'm home alone. I'm usually with Artie or my friends but Artie is out of town on business as you very well know and my friends are all busy."

"All of them are busy, huh" I say pondering it.

"Why are you saying it like you don't believe me?" Emma asks giving me a slight glare.

"It just seems a rather rare situation for every one of your friends to be busy" I reply. "Are you sure you actually have friends?"

"Of course I fucking have friends" Emma states defensively.

"Emma!" Brittany scolds. "You're lucky Aiden is too preoccupied colouring in his picture otherwise he could have heard what you said. I don't want any swearing in this house in front of my son" she states.

"Yeah you go Britt" I say smugly. I just love it when Emma gets put in her place.

"Yeah you shouldn't get so smug" Brittany shakes her head at me. "You rile her up just as much so you're partly to blame in this."

"Fine, whatever" I sigh.

After spending most of the afternoon together, we all had dinner and then got Aiden ready for bed. Since Emma hasn't spent more than a night with Aiden at the one time before then Brittany thought it might be nice for Emma to help her give Aiden his bath. I didn't see the point in all 3 of us bathing him so I took a backseat this time even though I love giving Aiden his bath and going through his night time routine.

"Emma and I are watching a movie, do you want to come join us?" Brittany asks as we quietly leave Aiden's room after saying goodnight to him.

"Thanks but I think I'll pass" I reply. I think Brittany really likes spending time with Emma so I don't want to impose on their time together.

"If it helps you can pick the movie" Brittany smiles at me.

"Honestly I'm good, just you two watch the movie" I say. "I might just take a bath right now and relax."

"Ok" Brittany nods before she and Emma head downstairs.

After taking a long bath to relax, I went downstairs to see if they were still watching a movie. When I peeked my head around the door, they looked like they were having fun just the two of them so I decided not to disturb them and hang out in the study. To say I'm jealous is a little too farfetched but it is only the first night Emma has been here and I kinda miss Brittany already. I'm happy to help out family but I don't like this situation already.

"Hey" Brittany says walking into the room.

"Hey" I smile briefly. "Is the movie done?" I ask.

"Yeah it finished ages ago but Emma and I just ended up talking for a while" she replies. "Anyway are you coming to bed?" she asks while coming over to beside me.

"Yeah" I smile.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Sunday 27th June 2021

I'm just walking down the stairs to see where Brittany and Aiden are when I need to use the bathroom so instead of walking back upstairs, I decide to just use the downstairs bathroom. As soon as I open the door, I get the fright of my life.

"Jeez…lock the damn door would you" I shout while slamming the door shut.

"What's going on?" Brittany asks while rushing out of the kitchen to see what the noise was all about.

"Your sister didn't lock the door and I didn't know she was in the bathroom so I walked in" I say shaking my head. "Thank goodness the glass was fogged up in the shower otherwise I would have seen something I really didn't want to."

"Are you saying you think my sister would look ugly naked?" Brittany quirks an eyebrow.

"I'm not saying that, I'm just saying I wouldn't want to see her naked" I state. "I've already got one blonde I love seeing naked, I don't need another" I point out.

"Smooth, real smooth Lopez" Brittany smirks.

"It's true" I shrug. "Anyway I need the bathroom so I'm going to run upstairs to the bathroom up there" I say.

"Ok" she smiles.

"I'm going out a run soon though but I'll come and see you before then" I tell her as I make my way up the stairs.

"Ok" she smiles again before going back to the kitchen. Once I'm finished in the bathroom, I decide to just put my running clothes on since I'm upstairs anyway. I then make my way back down to the kitchen.

"I'm back again" I smile while walking into the kitchen.

"Mom!" Aiden screams from his high chair as soon as he sees me.

"Hi buddy" I smile at him while walking over to him. "How is my favourite little guy this morning?" I ask while kissing his head.

"Food" he says holding up a piece of banana.

"Oh are you eating your breakfast?" I ask him.

"Eating, throwing it across the room, it's all the same right" Brittany shrugs.

"Are you being messy Aiden?" I ask but he doesn't reply he just starts giggling before throwing a piece of banana to the floor. "Aiden Lopez, do not do that" I say seriously but as usual he just continues giggling.

"Aiden?" Brittany gives him a warning look. His face quickly changes from a smile to a frown. "Throw your breakfast one more time and Auntie Emma won't take you to the park" she says while bending down to clean up the floor.

"Brittany let me do that" I say while taking her hand and helping her off the floor. I'm not having my pregnant wife kneeling on the floor when I can easily clean up.

"Morning" Emma says cheerily while walking into the kitchen.

"Clothes Emma, please" I shake my head while rolling my eyes at her. Apparently it's ok to stroll around someone else's house in nothing but a towel.

"I'm going to get changed, don't panic" Emma assures me. "I just wanted to grab some coffee to take upstairs. I thought that shower might wake me up a bit but it hasn't and I need to waken up" she says walking over to the coffee machine I have.

"I would kill for coffee right now" Brittany sighs.

"Surely one sip won't hurt, right?" Emma asks. "Here take a quick sip of mine" she says handing Brittany her coffee cup she has just filled.

"Absolutely not" I say while jumping up from the floor and grabbing the cup from Brittany.

"Controlling much" Emma rolls her eyes at me before snatching the coffee back.

"You're not supposed to have caffeine during pregnancy end of story" I state seriously.

"Yeah who cares about Brittany, just as long as your baby is ok" Emma states.

"It's not like that Emma so just stay out of it" I shake my head slightly annoyed at her.

"Santana chill out, she was just joking" Brittany says frowning at me slightly.

"I'm going out a run soon so do you want me to get Aiden ready before I go?" I ask.

"No Emma and I can manage" Brittany says.

"Ok well I'll see you later then" I say while walking towards the door to leave.

"Emma watch Aiden" Brittany says before following me to the hall. "Santana wait a second."

"What?" I ask turning around.

"What is going on with you this morning?" she asks.

"Nothing" I shrug.

"I know you and Emma have a weird relationship but ever since she got here yesterday you've been acting weird whenever she's in the room" she says.

"I don't want to talk about it right now" I sigh.

"Yeah that answer doesn't work for me Santana" Brittany sighs also. "We're not supposed to bottle things up anymore, my therapist even said that because it can't be good for us or our marriage."

"I guess I just feel left out" I admit embarrassed. "You and Emma were colouring with Aiden and then you and Emma hung out all night and would talk about things I had no clue about. Then this morning you're saying Emma is going to the park with Aiden."

"I'm sorry but it's been nice hanging out with my sister because we don't get much time together" Brittany replies.

"Fair enough but the weekends are when we get to see each other properly and spend time together because we're working a lot during the week" I point out.

"I get you might feel left out when she's hanging out with Aiden but this is just one weekend Santana so surely you can let Aiden spend it with his aunt just this once" she says.

"It's not just about Aiden, it's you too" I tell her.

"What about me?" Brittany frowns in confusion.

"I've missed you a lot this weekend because you've been hanging out with Emma a lot" I say. I know they're sisters but I like my weekends with Brittany too.

"Bullshit Santana" Brittany shakes her head.

"Excuse me" I say slightly taken aback.

"This isn't about spending time with me. It's about someone else spending time with Aiden when you miss him" she says.

"It's both of you" I tell her. I have no idea why she suddenly turned like she just did. It's maybe the pregnancy hormones or something.

"No Santana it's not been…"

"Brittany can you come here please because Aiden's table has stuck and I can't get him out of his chair" Emma shouts through from the kitchen.

"I need to go and help her" Brittany sighs.

"Ok but I don't understand what you were getting at a second ago" I say still confused.

"Just forget about it, I'm probably just overreacting or something. Just go for your run" she says walking to the kitchen. What the fuck is going on here. I'm not supposed to bottle up my feelings but its ok for her to say something and then dismiss it.

"Fine but we're talking when I get back" I say while heading out the front door.

XXX

So as usual I didn't get a chance to talk to Brittany again because she and Emma went to the park with Aiden after lunch and when he went for a nap, the two of them started working on a little project together. It's their brother Scott's birthday in 2 weeks and they wanted to put together something special for him since he's going to be a first time dad soon.

"Hey Britt, can I talk to you for a second?" I ask walking into the dining room. We're about to have dinner soon so I'm hoping for 5 minutes to talk before its ready.

"Ok but only for a second because I'm busy" she says while getting out of her seat. "Emma just you keep going and I'll be back in a second" she says before following me to the living room.

"Ok so earlier, what was that?" I ask getting straight to the point.

"As soon as I said it I regretted it, I'm sorry" she sighs.

"What did you mean though?" I ask.

"Just that the whole thing was about you missing Aiden and wanting to spend time with him. You were trying to cover up and say it was about both of us but I know it's just because your weekends are spent with Aiden" she says.

"I will admit I am annoyed slightly that Emma has been with Aiden more than me this weekend" I say honestly.

"That's what I was saying but when you tried to say it was about me too then I sort of let the insecurity get the better of me" she admits.

"What are you insecure about?" I ask confused.

"The way I look and feel right now" she sighs.

"I love you Brittany" I tell her while hugging her. "I know this is hard but I'm right here for you so please don't feel down about anything."

"It's easier said than done" she sighs again.

"I'm sorry if it came across I wasn't interested in spending time with you too because I am and I do like my weekends with you" I tell her.

"Ok" she smiles slightly.

"If you wanted we could go for a walk or something tonight, just the two of us" I suggest.

"Actually I can't because I'm going out with some friends tonight" Brittany replies. "I meant to say earlier but it slipped my mind. Are you ok watching Aiden though?" she asks me.

"Of course" I smile.

After we finished our talk, I finished up with dinner and then we all sat down together. I think I know where Brittany was coming from earlier because we haven't spent as much time as we used to together so I don't blame her for thinking I was more annoyed about not spending time with Aiden than her. Also her hormones have been playing up a bit recently so sometimes she overthinks situations and freaks herself out but I know that's just part of pregnancy so I'm not going to take anything to heart because I love her and she loves me so we're good.

Brittany is now hanging out with some friends so I'm just watching some TV in the living room while Aiden is in bed.

"Hey" Emma says throwing herself to the couch next to me.

"Um…hi" I say slightly confused. We never sit together or really say hi to one another so this is kinda weird.

"Don't look so scared, I'm not going to eat you" Emma says laughing.

"Yeah I didn't think you would" I state rolling my eyes.

"So anyway, I would like to talk to you about something" she says seriously. "With Brittany not here then I figured I should use the opportunity to talk to you alone" she says.

"Ok" I say slightly confused. "So what's up?" I ask.

"Well the thing is…" Emma says nervously. "God this is nerve wracking" she shakes her head.

"Just tell me" I say turning to give her my full attention.

"I like you Santana" she sighs.

"Like me as in friend?" I ask slightly taken aback. We have a weird relationship but since we are family then I guess we could be sorta friends.

"No I like you the way Brittany likes you" she replies seriously.

"Yeah you need to get out of my house" I say standing up quickly. This is not an ok situation right now so I don't want to be sitting anywhere near her.

"Come on Santana, I know you like me too" she says also standing up. "You can't deny all the looks and flirting we've been sharing over the years" she says stepping closer to me.

"Yes I can deny it because it's not true" I state. "Sure we mess around and stuff but it's not flirtatious one bit. I only do it because you annoy me and you usually get in the way of me trying to get to Britt whenever you're around."

"You wanted to walk into that bathroom this morning and see me in the shower naked" Emma says closing the gap between us even further.

"Emma I am happily married to your sister and I love her so much" I tell her. "You really need to leave now because this isn't ok" I say getting frustrated.

"You want this as much as I do" she says while reaching out to grab my hand.

"Oh no, get away from me" I say jumping back. Seriously what planet is this woman on?

"Oh my god, your face" Emma says bursting into laughter while moving away from me. "Relax ok, I don't like you like that and I know you don't like me either. It's really quite obvious how much you love Brittany, it's actually quite sickening to be honest with you."

"So this is just another one of your games?" I ask sceptically.

"Yeah it was just a joke but I do actually want to talk to you about something" she says while sitting down again.

"Ok so if I sit down you won't pounce on me or something?" I ask.

"No I think I can contain myself" Emma rolls her eyes. "You're not really my type anyway" she shrugs.

"It's ok you don't need to joke" I tell her. "I know now you might not be into me but I am everyone's type so you don't need to pretend about that."

"No you aren't actually" Emma shrugs again. "Anyway can we please talk?" she asks.

"Yeah, sure" I say while sitting down next to her again.

"Look I figured we should take this opportunity to maybe get to know one another better and sort out our differences" Emma says.

"Ok but why now, Brittany and I have been together 5 or so years" I say.

"I know but we're all adults and this silly game we play is funny but it's also getting offensive at times so maybe we should get to know one another a bit more" she says. "Also you're married to my sister, my brother is with your sister and I date your business partner so it's probably best we get along better because we're connected in a way, you know" she says.

"So you just want to get to know me because of that, you don't think we could actually be friends?" I ask.

"I wouldn't mind being friends but we are 2 very different people so I understand if it doesn't work out" Emma says honestly.

Things are a little awkward in the beginning but the more we talk the more I think we might be able to be friends, if not then we can certainly be a lot more mature around each other. It is actually quite nice to get along for once because it's exhausting fighting sometimes. It'll also be good for Brittany because she can't like it when we're messing around all the time being immature and she's stuck in the middle of it all.

"By the way if you want to take Brittany out sometime or do something yourselves then I'm more than happy to look after Aiden" Emma says as we change our topic of discussion slightly.

"Thanks I appreciate the offer but I think we're just happier being a little family with Aiden at the moment" I say honestly. I would like to go out with Brittany but lately she hasn't really enjoyed our date nights that much because she's either tired or struggling to eat certain foods so I've tended to stop asking for the moment so she doesn't feel pressured.

"You and Brittany are ok though, right?" Emma asks in concern.

"Yeah why did she say something last night when you two were hanging out?" I ask panicked.

"No I was just making sure because usually you're a lot more affectionate with one another than you've been since I got here. I mean I know it's not ideal having a house guest but that never used to stop you" she points out.

"Brittany just isn't in that kind of frame of mind at the moment and I don't want to pressure her" I say. "The pregnancy is going ok but I can tell things are getting to her a bit more now so I'm trying to be respectful of that."

"Ok" Emma smiles, satisfied with my answer.

"Speaking of relationships, you can always invite Artie here if you want as well, you don't need to make him stay away just because you're a guest here. Artie is one of my good friends so I'm more than happy for him to come over" I tell her honestly.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Tuesday 29th June 2021

Artie and I are just wrapping a few things up at work before we get ready to go home. It's been a tough day today so I'm looking forward to going home to my family. Just thinking about how much I love my family reminds me that Emma and Artie are together but I don't think they've really seen one another recently because Emma has mostly been at work or my house.

"Hey Artie what are you doing tonight?" I ask getting an idea.

"Not a lot to be honest, why?" he asks looking at me.

"Well how would you like to come to dinner at my place?" I say.

"Thanks for the offer but I'm kinda tired so I might just go home and grab a pizza or something" he replies.

"That's cool, maybe another time I guess" I smile.

"Yeah definitely" he smiles back.

"You're probably wise in not coming over tonight anyway because we're letting Emma loose in the kitchen and it's probably going to be a disaster" I joke.

"Shit I forgot Emma was staying with you guys" he mutters.

"Does that mean you might like to come to dinner after all" I smirk.

"I mean I guess I could" he says trying to sound cool about it but I know he really wants to come now that he's remembered Emma is there.

"Ok well it's settled then, you're coming to dinner" I tell him as we begin leaving the building.

"Cool" he smiles. "To be honest with you I just didn't want to be sitting like a third wheel while you and Brittany sat there kissing all night but now that I know Emma will be there then I'm happy to come."

"Don't worry that's not going to happen, we're be civilised" I assure him.

"Good" he nods.

"I can't help it though sometimes, I mean I do really love Brittany" I tell him.

"I know you do but you don't need to make everyone aware of that all the time" he teases.

"You're one to talk Artie, you have Emma as your screensaver not only on your phone but on your work computer too" I point out.

"I know but I don't make out with it" he states.

"Yeah that would be really weird" I say laughing.

"You know what I mean" he shakes his head. "You two constantly make out all the time in front of everyone whereas I'm more reserved with just keeping a picture of my girlfriend."

"Ok fair enough" I nod seeing his point. "Anyway I'll see you at my house" I say as we get into our own cars.

"Yeah see you soon" Artie smiles.

* * *

Brittany's POV

I'm just beginning to help Emma cook dinner when I get a text from Santana making sure it's ok that Artie comes to dinner and that if we don't have enough dinner then she can run by the grocery store and get more food. I quickly text her back that there's plenty of food before going back to help Emma.

"So how was work today?" Emma asks.

"Not too bad" I nod. "I don't do a lot of individual work anymore because of the pregnancy so I work a lot with others which is good because having someone to talk to makes the day go quicker" I admit.

"Yeah I suppose it will" she smiles. "So are you coping ok with work then and the pregnancy because I'm guessing physiotherapy can be quite physical at times?"

"Yeah I'm taking more a different approach at the moment because I obviously can't help with cases like people learning to walk again because I can hardly protect them from a fall" I say. "I do a lot of the emotional support and preparing their physio schedule. I work with Martin most of the time so he does the physical work and I prepare the schedules and updating cases. Don't get me wrong though, I'm fully involved in it all and I do the slightly more simplistic cases."

"Sounds cool" Emma smiles at me before going back to cooking. "So speaking of pregnancy, is everything going to plan with that?" she asks.

"Yeah no complaints really. I mean it's not ideal at times and I don't feel like myself sometimes but I know that's what pregnancy does so there's nothing new to be concerned about" I reply.

"That's good" Emma nods. "Santana is really cute with Aiden so I have no doubts she's going to be just as good with this next little one."

"Yeah she's the best mother ever" I smile thinking about her. "Aiden gets away with murder a lot right enough and she spoils him so bad but other than that she's great with him."

"We actually had a nice conversation the other night and I can see how good you and she are together" she smiles.

"You and Artie are just as good you know" I tell her honestly. They seem really suited to one another so I can definitely seem them together for a while.

"I've never had a relationship with someone like that before so it scares me sometimes but I do really love him. I mean it'll almost be a year since we started dating" Emma says, blushing slightly since we're talking about her boyfriend.

"That happens but being scared means you care so you'll be fine" I reassure her. "By the way Artie is coming for dinner tonight" I tell her.

"He is?" she replies confused.

"Yeah Santana invited him and she texted me earlier to make sure it was ok. I mean I figured it would be because you haven't seen him much since you've been staying here" I say.

"That's cool" Emma smiles. "Santana did say it was ok to invite him over at some point but I didn't want to push my luck because you guys are doing enough letting me stay here."

XXX

The four of us and Aiden are all sitting together eating dinner. It really is nice to have Artie here because I can see he makes Emma a lot happier. I'm not saying she was miserable without him but Santana, Aiden and I are all a little family and I could see Emma felt a little out of place sometimes. Emma is my family too but this is only natural to grow up and have our own little families so it's nice to see Emma begin hers in a way. I don't think they're ready for kids but that's not really my business anyway but what I mean is that it's nice to see her have a stable relationship.

"Do you know we should do this more often because I like us hanging out with other couples" Santana says looking at me.

"Yeah it is nice" I reply.

"I agree" Artie smiles.

"We should invite some of our other friends and their partners sometime and have a bit of a dinner party" Santana suggests. "Aiden could stay with my parents and maybe Harry too so Quinn and Jason can hang out with us as well."

"That might be nice because it's been a while since us grownups all did something together" Artie says.

"When would we do it though because we are quite busy at the moment Santana" I say.

"We can wait until after the baby is born or we can just make some time in the next few weeks before things start getting busy" Santana replies. "I mean there's no pressure, I just thought it might be nice."

"No I want to do it, I'm just wondering when you want to" I smile.

"Ok" Santana smiles back.

After we finish dinner, Santana and Artie insist on clearing up since Emma and I made dinner. Of course Aiden wants to help too since Santana is doing it. Honestly the relationship between Santana and Aiden couldn't get any cuter. Whatever Santana does, Aiden does. Once we're all cleared up, Santana and I put Aiden to bed and let Emma have some time with Artie herself.

"Well I better be making a move now but thanks for dinner" Artie says.

"It's no problem" I smile.

"Wait up Artie and I'll walk out with you" Santana says while grabbing her sweater. "I left some paperwork at my parents' house the other day so I need to quickly pick it up before the morning so I might as well go just now since I've got time and Aiden is already settled in bed" she says.

"Ok" I nod.

"I won't be long though" she tells me while walking over to me.

"That's ok, you don't need to rush" I assure her.

"I'll see you later then" she smiles.

"Bye" I smile back while leaning in towards her.

"Bye honey" Santana says kissing my cheek.

"Um…bye" I say slightly confused. I was going for a proper kiss but for some reason she just kissed my cheek again. This has been happening a lot recently and I don't get it. I've tried to chalk it up to my hormones since I'm pregnant but the fact of the matter is that I think Santana just isn't into me anymore.

I hang out with Emma for a while before deciding to go upstairs to bed. Since Santana isn't home yet, I decide to go for a quick shower to freshen up and put on the sexiest pyjamas I have. Surely if I dress up nice then I can see how Santana handles it and I might see once and for all whether I am overreacting or not. The minute I hear Santana get home, I quickly get onto the bed and wait for her. I grab my book to make it look as if I was just casually reading otherwise she'll wonder why I'm just sitting there doing nothing.

"Hi" Santana smiles walking into the room.

"Hi" I smile back. "Are you staying up or are you going to bed?" I ask.

"I'm kinda tired so I think I'll just get changed and go to bed" she replies while walking over to the bathroom.

"Ok" I nod before she shuts the door. I wait patiently for her to finish before adjusting my position on the bed so I'm sitting a little sexier when I hear her about to open the door.

"Don't you want to put a cover on Britt, you'll catch a chill sitting like that" she tells me while getting into bed. I frown slightly because that's not the reaction I wanted. This is the sexiest pyjamas I own and Santana usually likes them because they show a good bit of leg.

"Maybe I want to catch a chill" I say trying to sound flirty.

"You're pregnant babe so I don't want you getting sick so maybe cover up a little" she states while getting comfy at her side of the bed.

"Haven't you got a way to warm me up" I ask as sexily as I can although I am getting slightly embarrassed here at how hard I need to work.

"Actually…" she smiles while moving closer to me. Ok now we're getting somewhere. "You can borrow this if you want" she says while leaning past me to grab her hot water bottle.

"Oh" I say sadly.

"Shall I fill it up for you?" she asks.

"No it's fine" I shake my head while sighing.

"Ok well I'm going to go to sleep now so is there anything else you need?" she asks and I just shake my head again. "Goodnight then" she smiles before laying down and turning to face the opposite direction. Yeah I think it's safe to say she's not into me anymore. I was really praying I was dreaming all of this but the reality is that I'm not.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Friday 2nd July 2021

We're all getting ready to leave for work and to get Aiden to childcare. The only problem is that Santana keeps playing with him and it's distracting him from getting ready which is what we don't need when we're about to go to work.

"Santana can you just put his jacket on and you can play with him later" I sigh in annoyance.

"Alight keep your hair on Britt" Santana says slightly glaring at me.

"Well if you would hurry up I wouldn't get so annoyed" I state.

"What is wrong with you this morning?" she asks looking at me as she puts Aiden's jacket on.

"You're faffing around and I don't have time for this. I need to get to work and Aiden needs to go to childcare" I reply.

"I'm the one driving him there so I don't know what you're so bothered about. Just go to work if you're late" Santana states.

"Fine, I will" I say picking up my things. "Mommy will see you later sweetheart" I say leaning down to kiss Aiden.

"Bye mommy" Aiden mumbles.

"See you later Emma" I say to my sister.

"Bye Brittany" Emma smiles at me and then I make my way to the front door.

"That's real mature Brittany not even saying goodbye to me" Santana shakes her head at me as I walk past.

"Well if you didn't mess around so much I'd actually have time to say goodbye but I don't" I shrug my shoulders at her before leaving. I know I'm being immature but this situation is really getting to me now.

The whole time at work before my break I was distracted and I can't have that. I couldn't help thinking about this situation with Santana though. I'm thinking of booking a therapy session next week to see if my therapist can shed some light on the situation because it must just be a pregnancy thing because Santana is still Santana, she just doesn't seem as into me anymore that's all.

"Hey you ok?" Martin asks as we eat lunch together. "You look deep in thought about something" he points out.

"Do I look ugly?" I ask causing Martin to spit out his water.

"Uh…what?" he asks nervously.

"Do I look ugly right now?" I repeat the question while standing up to give him a better look.

"I don't know what to say Brittany" he replies nervously.

"I'm not tricking you or anything, I just need to know if I look ugly because I think Santana thinks I do" I tell him.

"Come on Brittany, anyone can see how much Santana loves you" Martin tells me.

"Yeah I know she loves me, I get that" I say honestly. "I just don't think she's attracted to me anymore. She loves me as a person but right now I don't think she loves all of me if that makes sense" I tell him.

"Brittany I really don't think that can be true" he shakes his head.

"I'm telling you, I think Santana is repulsed by me" I say.

"That can't be true" he shakes his head again.

"It is because she barely kisses me anymore and when she does it's always on the cheek" I say.

"Just because she doesn't always kiss your lips doesn't mean there's something wrong" Martin points out.

"It's not just that though" I sigh. "She hasn't tried anything with me in months. I think it's because I look ugly while pregnant, I really do" I say honestly.

"What do you mean by tried anything with you?" Martin asks hesitantly.

"You know, initiated sex, that kind of thing" I reply.

"Ok I get you" Martin nods understanding.

"I want Santana so badly sometimes but I get the impression she'd rather not have me anywhere near her. I'll be lying in bed or something and she'll have just come out of the shower and all I want to do is rip her towel off but I can't" I admit.

"Um…ok" Martin says nervously.

"It doesn't exactly help that she's amazingly good in bed because it makes me miss it even more" I say shaking my head.

"Yeah I'm not…"

"I mean I know I can't be as energetic now that I'm pregnant but it's not like I can't do anything" I say. "I mean I can still give a very good…

"Brittany I want to be a good friend but this is going somewhere I'm not comfortable with" Martin says embarrassed interrupting me.

"Sorry" I apologise realising I may have shared a bit too much.

"Look I think the key here is just to talk to Santana" he replies.

"Yeah, maybe" I sigh. I'm still really confused and frustrated with this whole thing right now.

XXX

"Honey is everything ok with you and Santana?" Emma asks me as we sit in the kitchen together.

"I think so, why?" I ask confused. I mean I know I have been feeling slightly insecure about stuff but I didn't think it was obvious to everyone.

"You seemed very short with each other earlier and you haven't been wearing your wedding ring for a while now" she points out.

"We weren't necessarily short with each other, we were just tired and bit irritable. Aiden has another couple of teeth coming in and he's not dealing with it as well as he did with the others" I reply. It's not a complete lie because that's true but that's not the full story though either.

"And what about the wedding ring?" she asks.

"If you must know, this pregnancy is doing really weird things to me. My hands have gotten so swollen that my rings don't fit me right now" I tell her.

"Ok" she nods just as Santana walks into the room. "Did anyone hear my phone ring there?" Emma asks while standing up and walking to the door.

"Nope I don't think it did" I reply. I know exactly what she's doing so her damn phone didn't ring.

"Yeah I'm definitely sure I did hear it so I better check it" she says before leaving. The bitch clearly thinks Santana and I should talk alone.

"You ok?" Santana asks walking over to me.

"Never been better" I shrug.

"What's going on Brittany?" Santana asks while leaning against the worktop to look at me.

"Nothing" I shake my head.

"Are we ok?" she asks.

"I don't know, you tell me" I say. I know I'm being immature but I don't know how else to handle a situation like this. It sounds like I'm getting pissed about my wife not wanting sex or something but it really is more than that.

"You're not wearing your ring again" Santana states.

"I know" I nod.

"Look is there something going on with us that I should know about?" she asks while sitting down next to me at the table.

"I don't know, you tell me" I say looking at her.

"What's that supposed to mean, I mean you keep saying that and I don't get it?" she frowns in confusion.

"I'm not the one who is acting weird around here" I state.

"Well actually you kinda are Britt" Santana sighs.

"Ok well tell me in what way" I say.

"For starters you used to always wear your wedding and engagement rings because you loved them and now you refuse to wear them" she replies.

"I don't refuse Santana, that's a strong word" I point out.

"Well regardless of whatever word you want to use, you still don't wear your rings anymore" she states annoyed. "I guess they just don't mean as much to you anymore or something" she shrugs.

"For crying out loud Santana, it's not that big of a deal. My hands are just swollen right now because of the pregnancy so I can't wear them. God why do you always have to think the worst in me" I say shaking my head.

"Oh" she replies feeling bad.

"Look Aiden is getting hungry so I think we should leave this for the moment and sort out dinner" I say and Santana nods.

The whole of dinner and thereafter was kinda awkward. Santana and I were being weird around one another which made Emma feel weird. After we put Aiden to bed, Emma and I hung out together while Santana went upstairs.

I'm now just walking into the bedroom to change for bed when I notice Santana fast asleep in bed. She is lying hugging the pillow so tight and I can't help but get jealous. I would give anything to be that pillow right now. I mean how ridiculous is that, I want to be a damn pillow?

"Uh…hi" Santana says while rubbing her eyes since she's just woke up. It takes me a second to realise I'm just standing there staring at her like a creep so I quickly turn around.

"I just came to get changed for bed" I tell her.

"I suppose I should too" she says looking at the time before getting out of bed. She grabs some pyjamas before stripping her clothes off. _Oh Santana please put some clothes on babe. You're making me want you so bad right now._

"Honey are you ok?" Santana asks laughing, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Uh…yeah" I say trying to bring myself back to reality. It's so hard wanting someone who basically seems repulsed by me.


	33. I want you

Chapter 33: I want you

Brittany's POV

Monday 5th July 2021

Emma left for work early this morning so Aiden, Santana and I are all in the kitchen having breakfast. Things are still somewhat weird with us just now but I'm hoping it might help when I go to therapy today. I spoke to my manager and she's letting me leave early for my appointment.

"So I've managed to get some time off this afternoon so shall I pick you up and we can go together?" Santana asks.

"Go together where?" I frown in confusion.

"To your therapy session" she replies. "I could take you to work today since I'm working from home and pick you up later and we can go straight there or we can just meet, whatever you prefer."

"I think I need to go by myself Santana" I say honestly. No offence but I did want to talk about a few things I'm not overly comfortable talking about with Santana yet.

"But I want to support you" she says.

"I know you do but I need to go myself" I tell her.

"Ok" Santana replies sadly. "Maybe I can come another time" she says.

"Yeah maybe" I nod. "Plus I don't want Aiden going as well so it's probably best you stay here with him" I tell her.

"My mom isn't working today so she's going to have him" she replies. "I think my mom is going to look after him regardless this afternoon so if you change your mind then I can come."

"Thanks but its honestly ok" I assure her.

"Ok" she sighs.

"I need to get ready for work now but I'll be back down to say goodbye to Aiden" I tell her while getting up from the table.

"Ok" she nods and then I leave. As soon as I am ready, I go back downstairs.

"Mommy is going now baby" I say leaning down to Aiden. "Can I get a kiss goodbye?" I ask him.

"Yesss" he says excitedly while smiling at me. As soon as I press my lips together, he leans forward and kisses me.

"I'll see you later" I tell him while standing up again. "So I'm not sure when I'll be home" I say turning to Santana.

"That's fine" she smiles slightly.

"The therapy session is booked for 3pm but I don't know how long I'll be there or what the traffic will be like on the drive home" I say. "We can just sort out dinner when I get back. It'll likely be the two of us because you said your parents are having Aiden and I think Emma is staying at Artie's place tonight."

"Ok well I'll see you when I see you I guess" Santana says.

"Yeah, bye" I say and then leave.

XXX

I've just walked into therapy and I'm actually quite nervous. Nothing scares me more than talking about how I feel in front of someone. I do want to get better but it is still really quite embarrassing.

"Hi Brittany, take a seat" the therapist smiles.

"Thanks" I say while sitting down.

"So you're pregnant again" the therapist smiles at me. "How is that going?" she asks.

"That's kind of the reason I'm here" I say honestly. "The pregnancy itself is what I expected which is fine but the things that come with it aren't so good."

"Ok so what kind of things?" she asks.

"My body I guess, I mean I was ok with it changing in the beginning but I think I've gotten more insecure now" I admit.

"Why do you think that?" the therapist asks.

"It's kind of embarrassing actually" I say nervously.

"I'm not here to judge so just tell me whenever you're ready" the therapist says.

"I feel like Santana doesn't like the change in me anymore" I tell her.

"Did Santana say that?" she asks.

"Not in so many words but I can just tell" I reply. "I'm not subtle with my actions, I'm very obvious about it most of the time and she just doesn't see it so clearly she's repulsed by me."

"Does she pull away whenever you go near her?" she asks.

"No but she does act slightly distant. I mean for example she only kisses me on the cheek nowadays no matter how hard I try to get her to kiss my lips" I say. "I also put on something sexy one night and all she said was I would get cold. She didn't even say anything about my breasts practically hanging out."

"I think you need to talk to Santana about this because it's hard to evaluate the situation when we don't know how she really feels" the therapist points out. "Either try talking to her at home or maybe you could both schedule a couple's session with me at some point" she suggests.

"Yeah I guess" I nod. I suppose someone needs to figure out how Santana feels first before we can move on in an appropriate way. It's ok hearing my side of things but we can't do anything until we hear Santana's. "So do I just go now?" I ask unsure of what to do.

"No we've still got a bit of time left so why don't we talk a little about you and how you're getting on" the therapist says.

"Ok" I nod.

"So have you had any worries about eating or anything like that recently?" she asks.

"Yeah" I reply.

"And what have you done to try and overcome them?" she asks.

"Well I've basically forced myself to eat sometimes or tried to distract myself when I am eating so I don't think about it too much" I reply honestly.

"Ok" the therapist nods. "So have you mentioned them to Santana?" she asks and I nod. "I'm guessing Santana is worried about you as well then."

"I suppose she is" I nod again.

"Maybe that's part of the reason why she's acting how she is then" she suggests. "She is perhaps just worried about you so she doesn't look at you like she wants to have sex all the time. She is looking at you in the way she wants to keep you safe and healthy. That night with the lingerie was maybe her trying to keep you warm than it was about something else" she points out.

"That is a fair point but she is deliberately holding back from me anyway" I say.

"Well like I say we'll sort that out so don't let it worry you" she assures me. We spend the remainder of the session talking about me and the ways I can overcome my issues with food. It's not necessarily a weight thing anymore, it's more about eating healthier and at appropriate times.

"How did therapy go?" Santana asks as soon as I walk in the front door of the house.

"Hello to you too" I say rolling my eyes while closing the door behind.

"I'm sorry, hi" she replies. "I've just been worried the whole time you've been away so I want to know how it went."

"It was fine" I tell her with a slight shrug.

"So what happened? What did you say and what did she tell you?" she asks curiously.

"If I wanted to divulge everything this soon then I'd have invited you to the session" I tell her while making my way upstairs to the bedroom.

"Where are you going?" Santana asks while quickly following me.

"I'm going to the garage" I say sarcastically causing Santana to roll her eyes. "Where do you think I'm going since I'm walking into the bedroom?" I ask rhetorically.

"Brittany I want to make sure you're ok" she tells me.

"Look just let me get changed" I snap while beginning to get out some clothes to change into. I'm still in my work clothes so I'm uncomfortable and all sweaty.

"Fine but after that I think it's time we have a talk" she says seriously. I don't reply, I just start changing into my other clothes and freshening up before moving to sit down on the bed.

"Talk then" I say looking at Santana.

"Why have you been snapping at me recently, like seriously Britt enough is enough" Santana says shaking her head. I guess she's just as tired as me with how much we've been fighting recently and hates it too.

"Because I want to fuck you so bad" I reply in frustration.

"Excuse me?" she asks slightly confused at my outburst.

"I want you so badly and I can't have you" I state. "I mean I might look the size of a beach whale but it doesn't mean I don't have needs."

"B-but why not?" she asks frowning because she's obviously still confused.

"Why not what?" I ask confused too.

"You say you want me so bad but you also say you can't have me. Why can't you have me?" Santana asks while sitting at the bottom of the bed from me.

"Because you don't want _me_ anymore" I shrug. "You don't find me attractive anymore and I get it Santana, I really do because I wouldn't find me attractive either right now. What embarrasses me the most though is that you won't tell me how you feel so I have to act like an idiot to prove it for myself?"

"Let's back this thing right up, what makes you think this?" she asks confused.

"A lot of things Santana" I reply. "I just wish you could be honest with me and say you're repulsed by me because I'd rather that than to keep hanging on praying my hormones are fucking me up and I'm overreacting."

"Repulsed by you?" Santana asks shocked. "Brittany I still love you, that'll never change" she says moving closer to me.

"I know you love me Santana as in care about me; I just don't think you _love me_ " I say gesturing up and down to myself.

"That's not true, I love all of you Brittany" she states.

"Please don't make this any harder than it already is" I say beginning to get teary. It is so embarrassing right now. "Don't just say things to make me feel better because it makes me feel worse when I realise it's not actually true. You need to be honest with me because protecting my feelings because I'm insecure gives me a false understanding."

"I'm not saying it because I don't want to hurt your feelings because you're having a rough time; I'm saying it because it's the truth" she tells me while leaning in to gently wipe a few tears from my cheek with her thumb.

"But it's not though is it?" I ask sniffing slightly since my nose has begun running since I'm upset.

"What makes you say this?" she asks holding my hand.

"You don't initiate things anymore so I don't know what's going on. I mean you don't always need to make the first move because sometimes people aren't like that but with us it's weird because I know you are like that" I say honestly. "You don't kiss me anymore unless it's on the cheek and any time I try to act sexy you completely dismiss it."

"Listen to me…" she says taking a hold of both of my hands before looking straight into my eyes. "I love you, I'm in love with you and I love everything about you. If I have been acting off recently then I most certainly don't mean to because nothing has changed about how I feel about you."

"It doesn't feel like that; it feels like you don't want me anymore" I say as tears continue to roll down my cheeks.

"I do want you Brittany, a little more than I should sometimes" she says chuckling slightly to herself.

"It doesn't feel like that Santana" I shake my head. "I want you and sometimes it's like you want nothing to do with me."

"Brittany you can have me whenever you want me" she assures me.

"Do you honestly think we're who we were 2 months ago?" I ask.

"No I mean I know things have changed between us but my feelings haven't changed" she states.

"So you know you've been holding back from me?" I ask and she nods. "Ok so that proves my point, you don't want to be with me like that."

"No I'm only doing that because I don't want to put pressure on you. I know how you feel about your body sometimes and how you can get slightly insecure so I don't want you to think I want sex all the time. I know with Aiden you weren't always in the mood so I'm trying to give you some space" she admits.

"There's space Santana and there's nonexistence" I state. If she was just giving me some space then we're well and truly past that stage now. She's basically not doing anything anymore.

"I just didn't want to pressure you and I also figured you had Emma to hang out with and give you support as well through the pregnancy so you didn't really need me at times so I backed off slightly" she says.

"This has been going on since before Emma came" I tell her.

"I know it has" she nods. "I have been holding back since we went on that mini vacation because you were always too tired for sex and I just didn't want you to think that was what I was after all the time so I held back."

"You didn't just hold back Santana, you stopped completely" I tell her.

"I'm not winning here Brittany, whatever I say to prove my point just isn't working because you come back with something else" she sighs.

"I'm sorry" I apologise. I guess I haven't been letting her explain properly.

"What do you want me to say?" she asks.

"I just want you to tell me honestly how you feel. I don't want you to hold back because you're worried about my mental health" I reply.

"My feelings have not changed one bit for you. They're all still there Brittany, I'm just withholding how I feel to keep the pressure off of you but I see now it's backfiring" she replies. "I'm still so insanely in love with you and I still find you the sexiest girl I know."

"Really?" I ask for clarification.

"I'm still into you 100%" she smiles.

"Ok" I say looking down embarrassed. I don't know what's worse, feeling so unattractive or accusing Santana of not being into me when she really is.

"If I need to prove it to you then I will" she smiles while letting go of my hands and wiping the tears from my cheeks again.

"Maybe you should" I joke trying to shake this embarrassing feeling away.

"Fine, lie down" she states.

"Right, ok" I laugh shaking my head at her.

"I'm serious, I will fuck you right now" she says.

"But…"

"Don't worry, I won't be rough or anything because you are pregnant" she assures me while leaning in to kiss me. The feeling of her lips on mine are almost electric. It's like so familiar but so new at the same time because it's been so long.

"Ok" I nod.

"Lie down" she whispers while pulling away to give me some room to move. As soon as I lie down, she hovers over me and attaches her lips to mine once again.

"Ok that is super sexy right now" I say starting to get turned on.

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Thursday 8th July 2021

I'm currently driving home after picking Aiden up from childcare. Work wasn't exactly stressful today but I am looking forward to getting home to spend some time with him. I know he's looking forward to getting a brother or sister but it will be a big change for him once they arrive because he won't be the only child anymore so I want to devote as much time as I can with him.

"Mommy?" Aiden asks from the back of the car.

"Yeah buddy" I say looking at him through the rear view mirror.

"Food?" he questions.

"As soon as we get home mom and I will make some food, ok?" I tell him.

"Mom" he says smiling at Santana's name being mentioned.

"That's right, mom is at home" I reply. As soon as we arrive home, I park in the drive and then get Aiden out of the back. When I place him on the ground he starts to run over to the door. "Aiden no running please in case you fall, walk nicely" I say while quickly following him.

"Ok" he smiles at me before reaching up to get the door handle but struggling since he can't reach.

"Mommy will get it" I tell him while opening the door. Once we step inside he grabs my hand. "Oh dear, this can't be good" I say as I walk into the kitchen with Aiden holding onto my hand to see Santana and Emma in there by themselves. "I don't like this because there's too many knives lying around and Aiden and I love you both so we both want you here" I tease.

"Very funny" Emma says smiling at me.

"So what's going on?" I ask.

"We're making dinner together" Santana smiles.

"Yes we are but it's almost ready so why don't I take Aiden to wash his hands" Emma says while walking over to us and taking Aiden's jacket off.

"Ok" I smile.

"Will you keep an eye on dinner Santana?" Emma asks while walking out the door with Aiden.

"Yeah no problem" Santana says just as they leave.

"So…hi" I say walking over to Santana.

"Hi" she smiles back before reaching out to take my hand to pull me closer to her. Ever since we had the conversation the other night, Santana can't keep her hands off me. "How was work?" she asks while wrapping her arms around my neck.

"Same shit but a different day really" I chuckle.

"I'll have you know I'm one of your patients and I don't appreciate being called shit" she smirks at me.

"No I don't mean that" I shake my head. "I would never speak about my patients like that, I meant like the same issues that keep occurring. I mean my boss sits in her office all day giving out orders and drinking coffee. She doesn't give a shit about anyone but herself and doesn't even do a bit of work. We've all to bend over backwards and do it for her while she takes the credit."

"I've always said you'd make a good manager, you should totally take her job. I mean it wouldn't be hard for you to run things because you pretty much do it anyway" Santana states.

"I think it would be too much stress but I appreciate how much you believe in me" I tell her while pulling out of the hold when I hear Aiden coming.

"Mommy look" Aiden says running into the room while holding his left index finger up in the air. When I look closer I realise he has a Band-Aid on it. "What happened sweetheart" I ask in concern.

"Absolutely nothing" Emma chuckles. "I was helping him wash his hands and he spotted them at the side and wanted to put one on. I think it's because they're patterned and have cars on them."

"Oh right" I say laughing.

"You won't be so excited when you hurt yourself and have to wear one of them for real Aid" Santana says while scooping him up. He doesn't say anything, he just shrugs at her like he doesn't care. "Hey did you miss me today?" she asks him.

"Yeah" he nods, "and mommy" he adds while looking over at me and pointing.

XXX

After dinner Santana and I spent some time with Aiden before giving him a bath and reading him a bedtime story. We then spent some time downstairs watching a movie with Emma. We're now in our bedroom getting ready for bed. It's still a little early but for some reason I'm quite tired tonight so I think I might just get into bed when I'm ready.

"I was going to watch another movie in bed but I don't have to if you want some peace and quiet to go to sleep" Santana says noticing me yawning as I get changed.

"I am tired but go ahead and watch your movie because I don't suppose it'll keep me that awake" I smile.

"Ok" she smiles back just as we hear Aiden through the baby monitor beginning to cry.

"I'll go" I say while making my way to the door.

"Ok" Santana nods and then I leave. I'm only away for a matter of minutes before I go back to my bedroom. "Is he ok?" she asks in concern as soon as I walk back in.

"Yeah he just dropped Santana and couldn't reach him" I shrug.

"Him?" Santana questions, laughing slightly.

"Yeah" I nod. "Santana is a boy teddy remember" I tell her.

"No it's a girl" Santana shakes her head.

"Well I mean there's no definite way to tell but the other teddies had pink bows and this one has red so I'm guessing that could be the difference. Also from the day we got it for Aiden he has called it a boy" I reply.

"If I knew that I wouldn't have asked him to call it Santana" she laughs.

"If it helps I'll buy you a girl teddy and you can call it Aiden or something" I joke.

"Sounds good" she smiles. For the next few minutes we seem to fall into a bit of a silence as I get ready for bed. "Hey come here" she says patting the space on the bed next to her.

"I'm just about to brush my teeth" I tell her while walking towards the bathroom.

"Ok" she nods.

As soon as I'm done in the bathroom, I walk over to the bed and sit down. I grab my moisturiser from the side and begin putting it on some dry areas of skin. That's another wonderful perk of pregnancy getting dry skin in places.

"Are we ok now?" Santana asks quietly while moving down the bed to sit next to me.

"I think so" I shrug.

"It's just you've been quiet the last few days, do you not believe me still?" she asks sadly.

"No I do believe you" I smile. "I'm just honestly so embarrassed Santana. I shouldn't have doubted you like I did and I shouldn't have carried on the way I did either. You're not someone who lies so why I would ever think you wouldn't tell me if there was a problem is ridiculous. It's also really embarrassing how much I wanted to have sex with you."

"You have nothing to be embarrassed about" she assures me. "I probably went too far so I'm as much to blame as well."

"Shall we just try and forget about it then and promise to talk to one another when something is wrong?" I ask.

"Yeah" she smiles.

"Ok, good" I smile back while rubbing the back of my neck slightly.

"Do you want a neck and shoulder massage?" she asks as I continue rubbing my neck.

"No it's ok" I smile.

"Sit down baby" she smiles while moving to sit behind me as I sit on the edge of the bed. She begins massaging my shoulders. "Does that feel any better?" she asks.

"A little actually" I reply in relief. It actually is relieving some of the tightness I have.

"Good" she says while continuing to massage my shoulders before leaning down to kiss my neck lightly. God you have no idea how much I have missed this.

"I love you so much Santana" I say turning around slightly to look at her.

"I love you too and don't ever think I don't because I do" she assures me. "I know pregnancy changes your body but it doesn't mean I don't like it because I do, I love every single part of you."

"Ok" I smile. "But just please don't hold back from me because when I really don't want something I will tell you so you don't need to be afraid to get too close."

"I promise I won't do it again" she says leaning in to kiss me. "Come on, let's get into bed" she says while moving back up to the top of the bed. I then join her and we begin watching a movie.

"No" I say holding onto Santana tightly as I feel her trying to turn the other way.

"Ok" she smiles while moving back to how we were. I think I have been rather clingy with Santana recently but I don't think either of us care at this moment. I think we just want each other to know how much we love each other.

* * *

Santana's POV

Friday 9th July 2021

As soon as I am done in the shower, I dry off before wrapping my towel around me and heading downstairs. Artie is in the kitchen eating when I walk in to make a start on breakfast. After saying good morning I walk straight over to the coffee machine and get it fired up. I am so grateful for Brittany letting me have coffee again even though she can't. Today is a day I really need coffee because I've got a packed schedule ahead of me.

"Oh pancakes" I say noticing what Artie is eating. "I need to come up with more ideas for Aiden's breakfast because he's turning his nose up at a lot of things."

"There's enough pancakes there for everyone is you want to give him some" Artie replies.

"Ok cool, thank you" I smile while pouring my coffee.

"Morning" Brittany smiles brightly walking into the kitchen before quickly frowning once she scans the room.

"Morning" Artie replies looking up and smiling before going back to eating.

"Hi" Brittany says walking over to me and kissing me.

"Morning Britt" I smile.

"Oh what I'd do for coffee right now" she groans before pouring herself some orange juice.

"Where's Aid?" I ask.

"Emma has him but she'll be here just now" she replies.

"Cool" I smile before turning to look at Artie. "So how is the Henderson case coming along" I ask while moving from behind Brittany, who decided to stand right in front of me. I prefer talking to someone face to face rather than have someone blocking my view.

"Yeah not bad" Artie replies.

"Do we think our client has a good shot at winning?" I ask while moving from behind Brittany once more.

"I actually do" Artie nods. "We've got some very strong evidence that can help us" he tells me.

"Baby I love you but you keep blocking my view and I'm trying to discuss something with Artie" I say while moving from behind Brittany once more but she just moves with me. "I can't see past you babe" I point out.

"I know" she states.

"Well stop it please" I state moving once again.

"I'll stop when you stop flaunting your body in front of everyone" she says seriously.

"Oh come on babe, Artie is not interested in me, he loves your sister" I point out.

"I know but I still don't like it" she shakes her head. "Just please wear clothes in the kitchen from now on" she tells me and I nod.

"So Artie how are we…"

"Santana!" Brittany states interrupting me.

"What?" I ask.

"I thought you were going to put some clothes on?" she states.

"I just thought you meant from now on but you'll give me a pass for just now" I say honestly.

"I really don't like you dressed like this in front of people" she shakes her head.

"Ok I'll go and put some clothes on now" I say while placing my coffee cup down and walking to the door. "I won't be too long Artie so we can leave soon" I tell him.

"That's cool" Artie smiles.

As soon as I'm ready and have Aiden sorted, Artie and I head to work as does Brittany and Emma. Aiden was just staying with Brittany's parents today who had a day off so it was much easier to drop him off there and go straight to work instead of having to take him to childcare.

I know today is going to be a hard day at work so I'm trying to just think about Brittany and Aiden to keep myself upbeat so I don't get stressed out. I usually just work a half day on a Friday but with how busy we are then I'm staying on an extra couple of hours. It'll also be really beneficial to have that extra money once the baby comes and I'm not working.

XXX

My work day has finally just ended and I'm currently walking into my house. Brittany texted me earlier and said she picked Aiden up already so I was able to drive straight home.

"Hey, it's me" I say announcing myself as I walk through the door.

"I'm in the kitchen babe" I hear Brittany reply so I drop my bag in the hall and go through to greet her.

"Hi" I say leaning in to kiss Brittany.

"Hi" she smiles at me. "Aiden is upstairs with Emma just now" she tells me.

"Cool" I say while reaching out to wrap my arms around her. "God I missed you a lot today" I tell her with a slight sigh. I am so relieved today is over.

"Hmm…someone is happy to see me" Brittany smiles.

"What…oh well I am happy to see you but that's actually just a packet of mints babe" I smile back gesturing to the mints in my pocket. "I had meetings all day and drank a lot of coffee so I didn't want to breathe coffee on everyone I talked to."

"That's a wise move because your coffee breath is the worst" she smirks.

"Hey cheeky, no extra loving for you tonight" I tease.

"Since when do we say extra loving" Brittany laughs. "Just say sex babe."

"I wasn't just talking about sex, I was talking about everything that we do before, during and after sex. I wasn't literally just talking about a quickie" I state.

"Ok" she smiles.

"So any ideas for dinner tonight?" I ask. We haven't planned anything to make and I am rather hungry right now.

"Actually I thought it might be nice for the 3 of us to go out for dinner" she replies. "Emma is cooking for Artie here so I thought it would make sense if we got out of their hair anyway."

"Sure I'd like to go out for dinner but I'll need to freshen up and change first" I tell her.

"Yeah that's cool" she smiles.

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Saturday 10th July 2021

I'm currently in the kitchen having some coffee while talking to Artie as he eats his breakfast. Emma is moving back into her apartment today so the house will finally be back to normal. I don't grudge helping family but it will be nice to get some time with just Aiden and Brittany before the baby comes.

"Morning everyone" Brittany smiles proudly walking into the room.

"Oh my goodness" I rush over to her with a dishtowel in hand. I have no idea why she isn't wearing a shirt or even a damn bra right now but I'm not wasting time in finding out. My wife's naked chest is on display so I just need to cover it with the towel.

"Whoa…uh…" Artie says nervously unsure about what to do.

"Artie get out of here please" I state and he quickly puts down his breakfast and begins moving towards the door.

"Babe are you ok" I hear Emma ask worriedly as she approaches as Artie crashes into the side of the door.

"Brittany is topless and I think Santana might kill me if I don't get out of here" he says panicked while trying to leave the kitchen as quickly as he can.

"Wait what?" Emma asks shocked turning around to look over at us. I'm currently still holding the towel over her chest trying to keep anyone from seeing it.

"Yeah they're completely on show" he states.

"Brittany what the hell?" Emma asks frowning at Brittany.

"Oh it's nothing you all haven't seen before. I mean we're sisters Emma and Santana's my wife" Brittany shrugs. Yeah I don't like this nonchalance about it.

"Yes but my boyfriend doesn't need to see your chest on display" Emma points out. "Come on babe, you go to the living room and I'll grab your breakfast" she says while picking up the plate and following Artie out the door.

"What is this Brittany?" I ask while shaking my head.

"You did it yesterday" Brittany shrugs.

"No I did not, I was in a towel" I state.

"You don't like it do you?" Brittany asks with a slight smirk across her face and I shake my head. "Think about how I felt yesterday" she states.

"I get that you didn't like it but I haven't done it since and my breasts were not on display like yours" I tell her.

"Don't you like them?" she asks. "They're bigger than usual because I'm pregnant and I actually think they're sexy" she says looking down at them.

"No matter whether you're pregnant or not, they're still very nice" I tell her. "The fact of the matter is though that I'd rather you kept that between us."

"Look Emma is moving back to her apartment today anyway" Brittany shrugs.

"I know but that's not the point babe" I tell her. "Your body is for my eyes only, ok?" I tell her.

"Ok" she smiles.

"I mean I totally get it because it's a great body so why shouldn't you show it off but the fact is that I like having something no one else has you know" I say honestly.

"Don't worry, it won't happen again" she assures me. "We are alone now though so if you want a sneak preview before later then remove the towel" she smirks.

"Sneak preview before later?" I question with a smirk. "What's happening later baby?"

"Well since we're hanging out with friends and Aiden is with his grandparents and Emma is moving back to her apartment then I think we should make most of the time together alone" she tells me.

"Sounds good because I have a lot of making up to do" I reply. I know I haven't been the greatest wife recently but I really didn't mean things to happen how they did. I honestly thought giving her space was what she needed because she was so stressed out the first pregnancy.

XXX

Like planned, Brittany and I are hanging out with some friends. We're all at Quinn's place since Harry is with my parents who also happen to be looking after Aiden. We ordered some pizza to all share for dinner and now we're just hanging out in the living room.

"Since we're all kid free tonight, let's play a drinking game" Quinn smiles.

"Um…hello" I say to get everyone's attention. "I'm having a baby remember so I can't drink."

"Oh my god Santana, are you serious? Congratulations" Puck says hugging me.

"Wait…what?" I ask confused.

"I had no idea you were pregnant Santana. I mean what are the chances of you and Brittany being pregnant at the same time?" he smiles.

"What the fuck is going on here?" I ask very confused now.

"He's being a jackass because you made it sound like you're the one who's pregnant not me" Brittany states rolling her eyes at puck.

"I meant Brittany is pregnant so therefore she can't drink and I'm not going to drink either since she can't" I tell them.

"Look just have a drink Santana. I don't mind playing the game sober" Brittany smiles.

"Are you sure?" I ask to make sure she really doesn't mind.

"Honestly it's fine" she says while squeezing my hand in reassurance.

"Ok" I smile.

"So who wants to go first then?" Quinn asks while looking around the group.

"I suppose I could go" I shrug.

"Ok fire away then" Quinn smiles at me.

"Ok, never have I ever met someone as amazing as Brittany before" I say smiling at Brittany. There's a few chuckles from some of the others before Artie takes a drink. "Are you saying you've met someone better than my wife?" I ask looking at him.

"I mean Emma is pretty amazing" Artie shrugs.

"Ok well let's move on" Quinn says and then a few others begin taking turns. "Ok Sam, you're up" she says looking at him.

"Ok well, never have I ever seen Brittany naked" Sam states.

"Oh come on what kind of question is that" Brittany shakes her head while laughing. "Half of these questions have all been about me tonight, what's going on?"

"I think everyone should just respond to the question" Sam smiles. I obviously take a drink because on many occasions I've seen Brittany naked. Quinn, Artie, Emma and Puck then all take a drink.

"Puck come on, you've never seen me naked" Brittany laughs shaking her head.

"Never say never Britt" Puck smirks.

"Yeah let's say never" I say giving him a slightly playful glare.

"So we know why Santana is drinking but why are the others?" Tina asks.

"Unfortunate sister moment" Emma shrugs and we all nod because it makes sense.

"Yeah and I only saw her naked because we went on a photoshoot together a couple of years ago to get pictures. Brittany wanted to surprise Santana and I wanted to give Jason something" Quinn replies and I almost throw up a little in my mouth because I don't need to think about my brother and his sex life. I dare say they hate it when I talk about Brittany but still.

"But Artie why are you drinking?" Mercedes asks in confusion.

"It's a long story that I doubt Santana or Emma wants us to get into it but in my defence it wasn't fully naked, just a topless situation" Artie replies.

"Yeah it happened this morning actually" Emma says looking over at Brittany. I guess she's still a little annoyed about Brittany walking into the kitchen like that.

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Tuesday 27th July 2021

Brittany, Aiden and I are sitting together eating dinner. It's nights like this that get me excited about the new baby arriving because it's nice having family time together. I also can't wait to see Aiden with his little brother or sister. He's going to be such a great big brother.

"So how was everyone's day?" I ask looking at Aiden and Brittany.

"Ok" Aiden shrugs before picking up a carrot and eating it.

"That's good" I smile at him. "What about you Britt?" I ask looking at her.

"The usual really" she shrugs. "The more pregnant I am the less I can do so I'm pretty much sitting in front of a computer all day now because I can't do much of the physical work" she tells me.

"Does it bother you?" I ask trying to gauge how she feels about things.

"No I'm ok with it actually" she smiles. "I'm just happy to still be working right now because I don't want to start maternity leave too early and worry about money."

"Ok" I smile back.

"Anyway enough about me, how was your day?" she asks me.

"Not great actually because I saw a bit much of your sister today" I tell Brittany.

"I don't like where this is going because you two always fight but do elaborate" Brittany sighs.

"I don't just mean I saw her frequently, I mean the one time I did see her was far too much" I state while shaking my head.

"What are you talking about?" Brittany asks, losing interest slightly since Emma and I are always taking digs at one another.

"She was sat in my office naked" I say.

"I beg your pardon" Brittany asks, her head quickly turning to me and a glare etched across her face.

"This isn't a joke Brittany, I'm serious" I tell her.

"You're damn right it's not a joke. I don't find anything amusing about my wife and my sister in the same room with nudity involved. So what was going on or was this payback for what I did the other week in the kitchen?" she asks.

"No it wasn't payback, it turns out she wanted to surprise Artie" I say nonchalantly.

"Artie?" she questions. "Why would she think Artie would be in your office?" she asks confused.

"There was a leak in Artie's office again so we're sharing until it gets fixed" I reply.

"Oh right" Brittany nods understanding.

"Anyway enough about that, let's just enjoy our family dinner" I say smiling.

"Yeah" Brittany smiles back.

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Friday 30th July 2021

Another day from hell at work today but at least I'm finishing in two minutes and have the weekend off to spend with the people I love. I've just got a quick few emails to send and grab some documents to take home and I'm ready to go. I've just finished speaking to Artie so now I'm heading back to my office to finish up.

"Oh hey Britt" I smile while walking into my office noticing Brittany sitting behind my desk.

"Hi" she smiles slightly but also has a slight nervousness across her face.

"What's going on?" I ask while leaning over her to open up my email on my computer.

"I think your receptionist just saw me naked" Brittany says just as I begin typing an email causing me to hit a few too many wrong keys.

"Excuse me" I reply shocked while deleting the incomprehensible sentence.

"The story about Emma surprising Artie got me thinking that maybe I should surprise you" she starts. "As soon as I saw the door open I figured you were about to walk in so I dropped my coat and basically it wasn't you looking at me."

"Please tell me you had something on under the coat" I ask worriedly.

"I did…my birthday suit" she replies nervously

"Oh god, this day gets better and better" I shake my head. She already exposed herself to Artie the other week and now another colleague of mine has seen her naked.

"I'm so sorry, I just assumed it was you walking in" she says while taking my hand and squeezing it to make me feel better. "If it helps I covered up the moment I saw her and she walked right back out. I doubt she even registered what I looked like" she tells me.

"It's ok" I smile while leaning down to kiss the top of her head. "It's not ideal but I'll live with it."

"So you're not too mad then?" she asks.

"Of course not" I tell her honestly. There's no way I could be mad at Brittany right now. "So I've only got a few emails to send and to grab a few things and then we can go home" I say while going back to typing out the emails.

"That's cool" she smiles while sitting back on the chair to wait for me patiently. As soon as I am done, I grab my stuff and we leave the office.

"Shall I drive?" I ask as we make our way out to Brittany's car. I had to get a tyre fixed on mine so Brittany drove me to work this morning and was going to drive me home hence the reason she's here now.

"Yeah you might as well" she smiles while handing me the keys. I quickly grab the passenger door for Brittany before helping her into the car. "Thank you" she says gratefully. I then get into the car too and drive off.

"Babe" I say after 5 minutes of driving.

"Mm" she hums.

"Your hand is on my crotch right now" I tell her while momentarily glancing in her direction.

"I know" she smirks to herself while continuing to look out the window.

"Baby we're picking Aiden up soon so I can't get hard right now" I state.

"You can't or you just don't want to?" she smirks at me.

"It's not that I don't want to, I just don't think it's wise" I reply. Any other time I wouldn't be so bothered but we are in a car and we are about to pick up our son.

"Well would I be a bad parent if I texted my mom to say we're stuck in traffic so we're going to be a bit longer before we can get Aiden?" she asks.

"No you'd be a perfect wife" I smirk at her.

"Ok well we don't have time to go home so quickly make a detour and we'll park up in that spot on the country lane we used to like going to" she says.

"Are you sure you should be having car sex when you're pregnant, I'd hate one of us to get injured making a wrong move" I reply.

"It seems like its car sex or no sex baby so you decide" she smiles.

"Car sex and a popped hip coming right up" I smirk before driving faster along the road to get us there quicker.

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Friday 6th August 2021

Brittany and I are heading to an antenatal class today. We've been to quite a few when she was pregnant with Aiden but we didn't think it would do any harm to get a refresher with this pregnancy. I'm quite excited actually because it makes the prospect of having another baby more real because these classes are held 8-10 weeks before the birth so it means it's less than that before we get the baby.

"Ok I'm ready" I smile while walking down the stairs.

"You are?" Brittany looks at me confused from the bottom of the stairs.

"Yeah, don't I look ready" I frown while looking down at myself.

"We're going to a hospital babe not a nightclub, are you sure you need such fancy heels on?" she asks.

"They're not fancy plus I need the extra height so I'm in line with you" I smile.

"Don't get me wrong you look great but I'm just saying it's a hospital and I'm not exactly dressed up either" she replies. "Plus it might be better if you wear pants since we'll be sitting on the floor from time to time."

"Yeah maybe you are right because they'll probably want to go through birthing positions and breathing techniques at the antenatal class" I nod. "I'll be two seconds" I say before running back upstairs. As soon as I'm changed, we head out to the car and go to the hospital.

"Honey you know I love you but this is my place of work so let's be polite today ok?" Brittany says as we walk into the hospital.

"Yes mom" I smirk.

"Come on, you know what I mean" she says softly. "You can sometimes rile people up when you get excited about things and I like that you're happy but I do work here."

"It's ok, I get it" I smile back.

"Oh we're early" Brittany says as we walk into the room where the class is being held. "Hey why don't we just grab something to drink while we wait" she says while walking over to the table with the refreshments on it.

"Ok" I smile while walking over to the table behind Brittany. "I'm just grabbing some water, what do you want babe?" I ask.

"Water is fine for me too but I might actually use the bathroom before we start so can you grab me a water?" she replies.

"Of course" I smile and then Brittany heads to the bathroom. After I pick up the waters, I notice some cupcakes sitting on the table so I reach over to grab one for Brittany because she's got quite into cakes with this pregnancy. Just as I go to pick it up, someone else goes for the same one. "Sorry, on you go" I smile at the woman.

"No it's fine you have that one, I'll take the chocolate one" she replies.

"Ok" I shrug.

"So are you with someone here because you don't really look pregnant" the woman smiles.

"Yeah my wife is pregnant" I smile. "What about you?" I ask noticing the woman doesn't look pregnant either.

"I'm just here to support a friend" she replies. "Her idiot boyfriend is a little unpredictable so I'm going to be her birthing partner. I've got two kids of my own with my husband anyway so I know what it's like during pregnancy so I don't want her to do this by herself."

"Well that's very nice that you're supporting her" I tell her honestly.

"Yeah" the woman smiles. "So what about you, is this your first?" she asks.

"Second actually" I reply.

"I see, so are you hoping for a boy or girl?" she asks.

"Well we already have a son and my wife thinks he's a lot like me so I think I'd like maybe a little girl who is exactly like Brittany" I reply. I mean I don't actually mind but if I got to choose it might be nice to have a daughter.

"It makes sense" she smiles just as Brittany comes over to us.

"Hey" Brittany smiles at me.

"Hey" I smile back. "I got you a cupcake" I say while handing her a cupcake.

"Thank you" she replies.

"Well it was nice talking to you but we're going to get a seat now" I say to the woman.

"Yeah nice talking to you too" she smiles and then Brittany and I leave.

"Who was that?" Brittany asks curiously.

"I never actually got her name, we both just reached for the same cupcake and then got to talking" I tell her as we sit down.

"How romantic" she nods.

"What?" I ask laughing. "Baby are you jealous or something?"

"No…I mean I don't know…maybe" she sighs. "Look I don't want to keep you from talking to other people because you can talk to anyone you want. These pregnancy hormones are just doing stuff to me so I guess it does make me a little jealous when you talk to hot women who are so much hotter than me."

"You have nothing to worry about" I assure her.

"I know that but it doesn't help how I feel" she shrugs.

"Look at it this way, any woman can talk to me all they want but the woman who gets to go home with me all the time is you. The furthest a woman will ever get with me is talking whereas there are no limits for you" I smile while reassuringly taking her hand in mine.

"I guess that does make me feel a little better" she smiles.

"Good" I say while kissing her cheek.

"Hey do you want to split this with me?" she asks while taking a bite of the cupcake.

"Don't you want it all?" I ask and she shakes her head. "Ok I'll take a bite of it then" I smile while leaning over to bite the cupcake. As soon as we're done eating, the instructor walks into the room.

"Ok so if everyone would like to take a seat on the mats in their couples and form a circle" the instructor tells us. "Before we actually get started on some of the techniques I just want everyone to introduce themselves so we can all get to know each other because we'll be spending one day a week together for the next few weeks" she says and then some of the couples start introducing themselves. "Ok so who's next?" she asks looking at Brittany and me.

"I'm Santana and this is my wife Brittany and we're currently expecting our second child" I smile while gently caressing Brittany's stomach. "We have a one year old at home so we're going to be very busy."

"So how far along are you?" the instructor asks looking at Brittany.

"31 weeks" Brittany replies.

"Well congratulations to both of you" she smiles. "Ok, so who's next" she asks while looking at the next couple. As soon as all the couples are introduced, the instructor gets us all to sit on a mat each in our couples with the pregnant women sitting down with the partners sitting behind them.

"You smell really good babe" Brittany says turning her head slightly and smiling at me.

"Thanks" I smile back.

"Is it just my hormones tricking me right now because I'm pregnant or are you getting slightly turned on right now?" Brittany asks turning her head slightly again to look at me.

"Haven't you noticed how I keep moving about? I'm trying not to get hard babe" I smirk at her.

"I did actually wonder why you kept moving behind me" she smiles.

"I can't wait to get home" I whisper seductively.

"Me neither" Brittany whispers back while smiling at me.

"Hey when we get home we should…"

"I'm sorry but are we boring you Santana?" the instructor asks looking at me and raising an eyebrow.

"No sorry" I apologise.

"Ok well let's all pay attention" the instructor says before going back to teaching the class.

XXX

After we were guided through all about the birth and what happens, the instructor moved on to teaching us some things about once the baby is born. We've each just been given our own doll and we're going to get shown how to swaddle the baby and put on a diaper. I know we've been to this before since we have Aiden but Brittany thought a little refresher wouldn't hurt.

"Is it weird that I think this doll looks like us?" I ask laughing.

"No it kinda does" Brittany smiles.

"Ok everyone, if you want to all get started" the instructor says and we all begin. She then makes her way around the room seeing how we get on. After a minute or so, Brittany and I finish.

"We're done" I scream holding the doll up in the air by its foot.

"That's good that you're done but this isn't a race. It's about quality not how quickly you can do it" the woman tells me.

"We're still finished first" I mumble.

"I assume you wouldn't hold your baby in the air upside down at home once you completed changing their diaper" she glares at me.

"No I would not" I state placing the doll on the table. Ok so the excitement got to me but I really wouldn't hold a baby up like that. I was just motivated to do well in this class that my excitement took over. Eventually everyone else finishes.

"Ok so we've actually finished a little earlier than planned so I thought since we have some time that we could look into some other techniques like CPR" the instructor says. "It's very important that you know what to do if your baby is chocking as well" she adds.

"Well that's obvious" I whisper sarcastically to Brittany.

"Babe, come on" Brittany says laughing while shaking her head at me.

"Well she's rubbed me up the wrong way because she had the cheek to think I would mistreat a baby" I state.

"Is there anyone here that would like to help demonstrate how CPR is done?" the instructor asks.

"I could easily do it" I say raising my hand.

"Ok" the woman nods, "come on up to the front then" she says and I go up to the front.

"I could do it on Brittany if it helps to use a live person" I shrug.

"No that really is not necessary" the woman frowns at me.


	34. Overdue and so Irritable

Chapter 34: Overdue and so Irritable

Santana's POV

October 2021

"Britt do you have a second?" I ask while walking into the kitchen where Brittany is having lunch with Aiden.

"Um…not really" she laughs. "Aiden and I are kinda hungry right now" she replies.

"I meant after you have lunch" I smile at her.

"Yeah well I have a minute then" she nods. "What's up anyway?" she asks while taking a bite of her sandwich.

"I have a surprise for you" I tell her while going over to Aiden and kissing him on the head.

"Oh interesting, is it big?" she asks curiously.

"It's more a surprise that I want to show you rather than an actual gift" I say.

"That's cool" she smiles before going back to eating. "Are you sure you don't want something to eat?" she asks looking at me.

"No I had a late breakfast after my run this morning so I'm good" I reply. "I might make myself some coffee though" I point out as I walk over to the coffee machine.

"MOM!" Aiden screams.

"Inside voice please" I smile at him while making my way back over to him. "What's up?" I ask.

"Look" he says quietly while holding a piece of fruit in the air before eating it.

"That's a good boy" I tell him encouragingly.

XXX

"Are you ready for the surprise?" I ask as I pick Aiden up.

"Yeah" Brittany nods with a smile.

"Let's go then" I say while leading them upstairs.

I've been preparing the nursery for the new baby for a couple of weeks now and I finally finished it today so I want to show Brittany and Aiden. Brittany has no idea I've been doing this so it's been really hard trying to keep it a secret since I need to work on it when she's not around. It's also been really hard to come up with ways to keep her out of the room otherwise it would have spoiled the surprise.

"Ok are you ready?" I ask while holding onto the door handle with one hand and holding Aiden in the other.

"I am" Brittany smiles.

"Ok well, surprise" I say opening the door and letting Brittany walk into the room.

"Oh wow Santana" she says looking around the room in awe.

"So what do you think?" I ask.

"I think its amazing Santana, thank you" she tells me honestly. "Have you been working on this the whole time?" she asks.

"Yeah I have" I nod. "After we got it painted I figured it might be nice for me to actually work on it and get some furniture to put into it. It felt more personal for me to put the whole room together instead of hiring someone."

"Well I really love it" she says leaning over to kiss me.

"Good, I'm glad" I say relieved. I mean I did go ahead with all of this myself so I wasn't sure Brittany would be into the same tastes as me regarding decorating etc.

"So did you put all the furniture together yourself or did you have some help?" she asks.

"It was a little hard building things on my own so my dad did come over occasionally" I admit.

"Hey Aiden what do you think of the room for your little brother or sister?" Brittany asks looking at Aiden.

"Toys!" he exclaims excitedly wriggling around in my arms as he looks over my shoulder.

"Yes there are toys over there" I nod.

"Play mom?" he asks looking at me.

"You can play with them for a little while and then you're going to take a nap" I tell him.

"Ok" he replies excitedly while trying to get out of my arms to get to the toys.

"Just hold on Aiden" I say laughing while gently placing him down on the floor. As soon as his feet hit the floor he takes off towards the toys.

As Aiden played with the toys, I took the opportunity to show Brittany around the rest of the room and show her the different little outfits I got for the baby. The 3 of us then headed downstairs where we put Aiden down for a nap while we did our own things for a little while.

"Smile, you're on camera" I say holding my phone in front of Brittany as I walk into the living room where Brittany is resting on the couch.

"Please don't take a picture of me" Brittany says looking away embarrassed while holding a cushion in front of her face.

"Why not?" I ask while sitting down next to her, removing the cushion.

"Because I don't look very photogenic at the moment" she sighs.

"Well I think you look rather sexy this afternoon" I say while leaning in to kiss her cheek.

"I think you need to get to your eye doctor soon then because you clearly can't see properly" Brittany laughs.

"Come on Britt, stop being so hard on yourself. You really do look sexy" I assure her.

"Well I certainly don't feel it" she states. "The sooner the baby comes the better I think."

"Ok" I nod. I think anything else I say right now won't make a difference so I just need to be there for Brittany.

"Actually I need the bathroom so can you help me up please?" she asks.

"Of course" I smile while helping Brittany up from the couch.

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Brittany's due date was a few days ago and she's starting to get really frustrated now because she just wants the baby here already. She's unbelievably uncomfortable, she's tired, and she's so irritated by any little thing that happens. Last night I turned over in bed and she nearly killed me because my foot brushed against her leg and apparently it was freezing.

"Hey Britt" I smile while walking into the living room where Brittany is.

"Why do our neighbours have to be so loud putting out their trash?" she asks while shaking her head.

"I don't know babe" I say while sitting next to her on the couch.

"Is Aiden taking his nap?" she asks looking at me.

"He is but I think he'll wake up soon though because he's been sleeping for a while now" I reply.

"I could really use a nap myself but this baby just won't stop moving so I can't sleep" she sighs.

"Is the baby moving a lot more than Aiden did?" I ask curiously.

"Weirdly it is yeah" Brittany nods.

"Maybe it's a sign they're going to be an awesome dancer like you" I smile.

"Perhaps it is" she agrees. "So what are you up to this afternoon?" she asks.

"Well since Aiden is sleeping then I thought you and I could hang out or something. We could watch a movie or we could…" I'm cut off from speaking when my phone suddenly starts ringing. "It's my mom, I wonder why she's calling my phone and not the home phone" I say frowning in confusion.

"You won't find out if you don't answer" Brittany chuckles.

"I suppose" I say chuckling before answering my phone. "Hey mom, what's up…slow down, I can't hear you…mom I can't hear you…look give me a second until I go into another room" I say while taking my phone to the kitchen. The reception there wasn't much better but I did eventually understand what she was trying to tell me.

"Hey everything ok?" Brittany asks as I walk back into the room.

"My mom just said they're at the hospital and apparently Eva has went into labour" I tell Brittany.

"Oh great" Brittany mutters sarcastically.

"What's wrong?" I ask confused.

"This is ridiculous" Brittany shakes her head in annoyance. "Your sister and I got pregnant around the same time and she's having her baby already?" she questions.

"I know but hopefully it won't be long until we have the baby either" I say trying to lift her spirits.

"Do you think we should go to the hospital then?" she asks. We would normally because this is our niece or nephew and we'd like to be there with the family but I don't know if Brittany will want to be going out considering how she's feeling.

"I don't know" I shrug. "Do you feel like going out or not really?" I ask.

"I think it'll annoy me more sitting here doing nothing so we might as well go" Brittany replies.

"Ok cool" I nod. "Hey why don't I get Tina and Mike to come over and stay with Aiden until we get back?" I suggest.

"Yeah that's probably better than dragging him with us because he'll just be bored" she replies.

"Ok cool" I smile. As soon as we get ready and Mike and Tina come over, Brittany and I head to the hospital. Once we get there, I park up and then we make our way inside.

"Your hands are all sweaty" Brittany states as I take her hand.

"Oh I'm sorry, I won't dare hold your hand again" I laugh.

"I'm sorry" she shakes her head. "Every little thing is bugging me right now."

"I can tell" I smile.

"You know I love you though, right?" she asks while stopping for a second and looking at me.

"Of course I do" I smile brightly. As soon as we find the room my sister is in, we make our way inside where most of our family all are. She had just given birth to a little girl so everyone is all over the baby trying to get a hold of her.

"She's really cute" Brittany says as she sees the baby for the first time.

"Yeah she is" my sister smiles over at the baby.

"Hey it won't be long before your baby comes" Scott points out.

"I know but it feels like an eternity" Brittany sighs. "I'm pretty sure I got pregnant before Eva and you two have had your baby already."

"Hey while we're here let's just schedule an appointment with your doctor and we can see what is going on with the baby" I suggest.

"Ok" Brittany nods.

"You stay here and I'll go and make the appointment now" I tell her.

"Ok" she smiles and then I leave. As soon as I talk to the doctor, I make my way back to my family.

"Ok so the doctor said we can go and see her tomorrow ok" I tell Brittany as I sit down next to her.

"Tomorrow, why not today?" she asks annoyed.

"I don't know honey, tomorrow just seemed to work for her" I reply.

"Well tomorrow doesn't work for me" Brittany shakes her head in annoyance while standing up from her chair and walking slowing to the door.

"Britt where are you going?" I ask confused while quickly following her.

"I'm going to see this doctor right now because I can't wait any longer" she states.

"No you're not" I say firmly. "I have arranged a perfectly good time with the doctor tomorrow so we're waiting until tomorrow" I say shaking my head.

"Fine" Brittany huffs before sitting back down. I didn't mean to take such a tone with her but tomorrow seems reasonable to me because it is all very short notice.

After spending some time with the family at the hospital, Brittany and I leave as well as the rest of the family to give Eva and Scott some time with their new baby on their own. When we get home we make dinner and spend some time with Aiden. It hadn't actually occurred to me before but this might be one of the last times we have Aiden all to ourselves before the baby comes so we want to make the most of the time and let Aiden know nothing will change.

Once Aiden went to bed Brittany and I spent some time together before going to bed ourselves. I'm just having a lovely dream when I feel myself shaking slightly before I hear Brittany's voice.

"Santana stop snoring" Brittany states while shaking me.

"I'm not" I reply sleepily while turning away from her so she will stop shaking me.

"Yes you are" she sighs.

"I'm really not" I say while drifting off back to sleep.

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I'm downstairs clearing up from breakfast while keeping an eye on Aiden after sending Brittany back to bed to get some rest. I'm just washing up some dishes when my phone starts ringing. As soon as I pick it up, I realise its Brittany calling me so I quickly answer.

 _"_ _Hello?"_ I say confused as I answer.

 _"_ _The cover has fell off and I'm cold"_ Brittany mumbles.

 _"_ _Brittany…"_ I say taking a deep breath to keep myself calm. _"We have a blanket on our bed too, won't that work until I'm able to come upstairs."_

 _"_ _Why can't you come just now?"_ she replies.

 _"_ _I'm clearing up and then I need to get Aiden sorted since he's going to the hospital with us"_ I reply.

 _"_ _Clear up later and bring Aiden with you"_ she states.

 _"_ _Babe you're supposed to be resting for a little bit just now and I'm sure the blanket will be adequate until I'm ready to come upstairs"_ I say.

 _"_ _Please just come upstairs"_ she replies almost whining.

 _"_ _I promise I won't be long so just hang tight and I'll be up as soon as I'm done"_ I tell her.

 _"_ _Fine, whatever"_ she sighs.

 _"_ _I lo…"_ I can't even finish my sentence because she hangs up the phone. I chuckle at that slightly because it is kinda amusing that she just hangs up on me. It's not like I'm being mean to her, I just think she can wait 5 more minutes until I'm done because I have Aiden with me right now and it's not like she's freezing to death when there's a blanket on the bed.

Once I am all sorted in the kitchen and have cleaned Aiden up, he and I make our way upstairs to Brittany. When we get to the bedroom, I gently place Aiden on the bed next to his mommy.

"I think mommy could use a kiss from her favourite boy" I smile at Aiden.

"Ok" he says excitedly while rolling over on the bed so he's as close as possible to Brittany. "K-sss" he says while leaning up to kiss her.

"Thank you sweetheart" she smiles brightly at him while wrapping her arms around him to hug him. I then pick up the cover and place it over both of them.

"K-sss?" he questions while pointing to Brittany's stomach.

"Yes you can kiss your baby brother or sister" Brittany nods while smiling fondly at him. Aiden then leans down and kisses Brittany's clothed covered stomach.

"Are you still mad at me?" I ask quietly while kneeling down at the side of the bed.

"Hmm…I don't know" she smiles slightly. "It all depends on what you do next."

"I see" I smirk before leaning up to kiss her. "How are you feeling now, still mad?" I ask.

"No not really" she smiles.

"Good" I smile back. "So are you ok here with Aiden just now if I go for a quick shower?" I ask.

"Yeah we'll be fine" she nods.

"Aiden can you stay and look after mommy while I go for a shower?" I say leaning over to kiss Aiden.

"Y-sss" he says happily while holding onto Brittany tightly and stroking her face with his tiny hand.

"Thank you" I smile at him before grabbing what I need and going for a shower.

XXX

"So what is going on, shouldn't I have had the baby by now?" Brittany asks the doctor.

"Ideally you would usually have had the baby by now but it's not uncommon for babies to be late. They come whenever they're ready so I'm afraid it is just a waiting game now" the doctor replies.

"So there's nothing you can do to speed up the process?" Brittany asks.

"Medically we can if we feel it's necessary if you or the baby is in harm but honestly Brittany there's no concerns right now. The baby just isn't ready to come" the doctor points out.

"So we just literally wait around until the contractions start?" I ask.

"Pretty much" the doctor nods.

"This is just great" Brittany sighs in frustration.

"There are a few things you could try at home to maybe bring the labour on if it's really frustrating you" the doctor says.

"Like sex?" I ask, a little too eagerly might I add.

"Some people do find that works" the doctor laughs. "But there are a few other approaches as well" she adds.

"Like what?" I ask.

"There's certain foods you could try eating or taking walks. It also helps if you keep upright as much as possible" the doctor points out.

"Ok" Brittany nods.

After our appointment finished, we decided to take Aiden to the park for a little bit since he was such a good boy at the hospital. He tends to get very bored at the hospital with all the sitting around waiting so more often than not he usually has a tantrum but today he was really patient so we wanted to treat him. I knew Brittany wouldn't like being out all day so we didn't stay too long, just enough to let Aiden run around and let off some steam. We're now back at home and have just finished having lunch.

"Up" Aiden says while putting his hands in the air and clenching and unclenching his fists at Brittany.

"Mommy can't lift you up right now sweetheart because she's got a sore back" Brittany tells him.

"Up" he repeats while moving closing to Brittany with his hands in the air.

"Mommy said no" I tell him but he just stares at me for a second before turning around to look at Brittany again. He continues to look at her before clinging onto her leg.

"Aiden I can't lift you up" Brittany shakes her head at him while gently stroking his hair.

"Come on, mom will lift you up" I say while picking him up from the ground. As soon as I do it though he begins crying while reaching out to Brittany.

"Aiden don't get upset, I'm right here" Brittany says while leaning over to kiss his forehead.

"Mommy" he says in floods of tears.

"Come on then" Brittany shakes her head while taking Aiden out of my arms. The minute she does it she winces in pain.

"Brittany stop" I say while trying to take Aiden from her.

"I'm fine" she tells me but it's clear from her face that she is not fine.

"I think someone is tired and needs to go to sleep" I say to Aiden but he just kicks his leg towards me.

"Excuse me" Brittany says firmly to Aiden. "You don't kick people Aiden, not mom and not anyone, do you understand?"

"Mommy" he says still crying while wrapping his arms around her neck. I think I know what's going on here.

"Aiden you can hug mommy whenever you want but she does have a sore back that's why I was lifting you up. I wasn't trying to stop you from seeing mommy" I tell him. I really don't take any offence to it because he does it to Brittany too. Sometimes he'll want me to lift him up so will cause a scene until I do and other times it's Brittany he wants. It's just unfortunate he wants Brittany right now when she's got a bad back.

"Mom is right Aiden, you do seem tired so why don't we lay you down for a little nap?" Brittany asks while smiling at Aiden and wiping a few tears from his cheek.

"Want you" Aiden mumbles to Brittany.

"You'll see me after you nap sweetheart, I'm not going anywhere" Brittany assures him.

"Ok" he frowns unhappily.

"Come on let's go" Brittany says while bouncing him slightly in her arms to cheer him up a bit.

"Can mom get a kiss before you go?" I ask.

"Y-ss" he nods before kissing me.

"Thank you" I smile at him. Brittany then takes him to the other room for a nap. She stays with him until he falls asleep and slowly steps out when she's satisfied that he's fully asleep.

"My back is worse than ever today with this pregnancy" Brittany sighs while gently sitting down next to me on the couch.

"I did tell you not to pick Aiden up" I tell her.

"Yes I know Santana" she sighs. "He was just so upset and I hated seeing him like that. It was easier to risk my back than have him screaming all afternoon."

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The next day

I woke up before Brittany this morning so I decided to let her sleep because she hasn't been sleeping well recently. I quickly took a shower and then got Aiden up and ready for the day. I've just walked back into the bedroom where I see Brittany wakening up.

"Morning" I smile at her.

"Why do you have to look so hot in the mornings?" Brittany asks while shaking her head and rolling her eyes at me.

"I don't know" I laugh. I don't think I've ever seen someone so annoyed before when they've gave someone else a compliment.

"It's like you wake up looking hotter than the day before, it's really annoying because the rest of us aren't that fortunate" she sighs.

"I'm just going to ignore everything else you said and just focus on the fact you gave me a compliment and you think I'm hot" I smile while leaning over the bed to kiss her on the head.

"So what are our plans for today?" Brittany asks while motioning me closer so I'll help her get out of bed.

"I don't know" I reply while helping her up. "I had thought of doing some work at home since the baby isn't here yet so there's no point wasting my time off but I don't know if I have enough at home to get on with my work."

"You don't need to stay at home with me, if you need to go into work to complete a few things then just do it. I'll call you if anything happens regarding the baby" she shrugs.

"Yeah I'm not leaving you Brittany" I shake my head. She can't even get out of bed herself so I'm not about to leave her to run behind a one year old all day.

"I'm sure I'll be fine so please just go if you need to go babe" she smiles.

"If I need anything from work then I'll call Artie and he can email me it" I say. "I'm really not going to leave you Brittany so I'm afraid you're stuck with me" I smile.

"Ok" she smiles back while sighing in relief. I know she really didn't want me to go but that's not why I'm not going anyway. I honestly don't want anything to happen when I'm not here regarding the baby or Brittany for that matter.

"I appreciate you saying you would be ok but honestly Britt, I want you to lean on me as much as you need to so you don't need to pretend you're ok. I want to help you so I'm here for whatever you need whether that's helping you out of bed or making you something to eat" I say honestly.

"Ok" she nods.

"So our son is desperate for breakfast so are you hungry?" I ask.

"I'm not overly hungry but I should have something to eat" she replies.

"Ok let's go then" I say while walking towards the door. "Aiden is in his room getting some cars to play with so I'll get him and meet you downstairs. Will I just make you some eggs?"

"Yes please" she smiles while slowly walking over to the closet to change out of her pyjamas.

After sitting having breakfast together, Brittany played with Aiden and his cars for a little while and I sat in the dining room with my laptop doing some work. I'm just thinking though that maybe I should give Aiden a slightly earlier nap than usual today because he really didn't sleep well last night. I was up and down all night checking on him. I feel like all I do sometimes is put him down for a nap but he is still young so he's needs to sleep during the day as well as at night.

"Hey" I say walking into the living room where Brittany is sitting on the couch with Aiden curled up beside her holding onto Santana with one arm and the other resting on Brittany's stomach. "I thought you two were playing with the cars?" I ask.

"We were but someone got tired and wanted to lie down with their teddy bear" Brittany replies while smiling down at Aiden.

"The teddy bear has a name Brittany" I smirk. For some reason she hates calling it Santana and I love winding her up about it.

"I know" she says playfully rolling her eyes at me. I just smile back in response.

"I was actually thinking of putting him down for a nap a little earlier today" I say.

"Yeah that's a good idea" she nods in agreement.

"It's nap time Aiden" I say while picking him up as he yawns.

"Nap too mom?" he asks looking at me before reaching up and forcefully closing my left eye with his fingers.

"No mom doesn't need to nap" I shake my head while rubbing my now very sore eye.

"Yes nap" he says while forcefully closing my other eye.

"No Aiden mom is not going to take a nap just now but you are so let's go" I say while taking him to the other room.

"No sleep" he shakes his head while yawning again.

"Yes you are sleepy" I reply while lying him down on the bed.

"S'tana" he says while reaching out.

"He's right here Aiden" Brittany replies while placing the teddy down next to him. I still can't get used to the teddy being a boy. I could have sworn it was a girl so that's why I insisted on naming it after me.

XXX

"This isn't working" Brittany sighs in frustration as we try to find a comfortable position to be intimate.

"Maybe if I just moved slightly to the left and you kind of lean on me" I point out.

"Who are we kidding Santana" Brittany shakes her head. "I think we're done having sex until the baby comes."

"Yeah maybe we are" I nod. I suppose it is for the best anyway considering the way Brittany is feeling and everything. To be fair it's not going to kill us to go without for a few weeks anyway.

"I really hope this baby comes soon because I'm almost at breaking point. I can barely do anything myself and now we can't even be intimate with one another" she groans. I know that it's not just about sex though, I think everything is getting on top of her at the moment.

"I'll make something spicy for dinner and we can see if that works" I say. "If not then we can take a gentle walk somewhere" I tell her.

"And give birth behind a tree, no thank you" she shakes her head. "We need to stay here until the contractions start and I know we can make it to the hospital."

"Ok" I nod. "Hey do you want me to give you a massage just now to see if it helps you to relax a little?" I suggest.

"And how do you do that if I can't lie on my front?" she asks.

"I'll just do your shoulders and if you want I can give you a foot massage too" I reply.

"I suppose it's better than nothing" she shrugs. "You will give me a proper massage, like a full body one once the baby comes, right?" she asks.

"I'll give you as many as you want" I smile. It's the least I can do after how exhausting these 10 months have been for her.

"Thank you" she smiles back.

"So are you ready?" I ask as I get into position behind her to start the massage and she nods.

"Oh Santana, you're nails are like knives" Brittany groans after a minute or so.

"I'm sorry" I say chuckling slightly

"I don't know how I usually let you touch me with those things. You're just about cutting my shoulders in half" she states.

"Don't be silly, I think I am doing quite well" I laugh.

"No you're really not" she replies while twisting her neck slightly to frown at me.

"Shall I stop then?" I ask.

"No just be a little gentler with me" she states.

"Baby if I'm any gentler with you then I won't be touching you" I point out.

"Fine just keep going then" she sighs. I'm sure if it was that bad then she would tell me to stop altogether so I think we're doing ok.

* * *

Brittany's POV

This pregnancy is really taking it's toll on me. I've been lying in bed for over two hours now and I'm still not sleeping. As soon as Santana's head hit the pillow she drifted off to sleep whereas I'm not even remotely ready to fall asleep. I am tired and I keep yawning but for some reason I can't actually sleep though. The baby keeps moving about inside me and I'm terribly uncomfortable. No matter what position I lie in the baby just doesn't seem to like it at all.

After moving about for what feels like ages which is probably only a few minutes, I suddenly need to use the bathroom. With me being more than 9 months pregnant now then jumping out of bed is not something I can do alone unfortunately so now I need to wake up Santana. Just as I swing my arm over to gently shake her awake, I feel my fist collide with Santana's crotch.

"Shit" Santana hisses out in pain.

"Santana I need help" I state. I know I hurt her but there's no time to apologise right now.

"Give me a second please" she sighs while massaging the injured area.

"I need help off the bed to go to the bathroom so I really don't have a second unless you want me to wet the damn bed" I reply in frustration. Again another wonderful perk of pregnancy is little bladder control. When I need to go, I need to go.

"Ok I'm sorry" she says while quickly getting off the bed and wincing in pain at the same time. I do feel really bad but on the other hand I don't have time to do that because I will have an accident if I don't get to the bathroom.

"Thanks" I reply when she helps me off the bed.

"Do you need me to…?"

"No I can manage from here" I say as I walk over to the bathroom. As soon as I'm finished I walk back out to the bedroom where Santana is sitting on the edge of the bed waiting for me.

"Do you need help getting into bed?" she asks while standing up and walking over to me.

"No it should be ok" I smile. "By the way I didn't mean to hurt you before baby" I say softly while gently kissing her cheek.

"Honestly don't worry about it" she smiles. "We weren't planning on using it any time soon anyway since sex is a no go at the moment" she jokes.

"Hah-hah" I laugh.

"Anyway let's get back into bed because it's just after 1am" she says while taking my hand and leading me over to the bed. Once I get sat down, she swings my legs round and gently places them down on the bed.

"Thank you" I reply gratefully. I really don't know what I'd do without Santana, she's just amazing all the time and I'm not just talking about helping me into bed, she's amazing with everything she does.

"Do you want me to lie awake until you drift off to sleep?" she asks while lying down next to me.

"No it's ok because you'll be waiting a long time if you do that and you need your sleep" I tell her.

"Yes but so do you" she states.

"I know but I'm not the one working at the moment so just go to sleep. If I'm meant to sleep, I'll sleep" I say.

"Ok if you're sure" she says reaching over to kiss me before lying back down.

"Goodnight" I smile at her.

"Goodnight Britt" she smiles back before closing her eyes and just like that she's peacefully sleeping again. God I wish I could do that right now.

I have no idea when I got to sleep eventually but I'm wide awake now and slightly more refreshed than before. I'm not feeling loads better but the little sleep I did get has taken the edge off slightly. This pregnancy is still annoying me though. I mean I know I should be grateful I can feel the baby moving because it lets me know they're ok but on the other hand, it's stopping me from relaxing because I keep thinking if they can move about in my stomach then why aren't they ready to come out.

I guess I really should get out of bed now but Santana isn't in the room and I don't think I can quite get up myself right now. I'll wait a few minutes to see if she comes back into the room otherwise I'll just call her and see where she is. After less than a minute Santana walks into the room.

"Good morning" Santana says cheerily while leaning down to kiss my lips when she reaches me.

"Ewe, I think you need to brush your teeth" I say frowning.

"Charming" Santana laughs.

"I'm sorry" I shake my head because I never meant to sound so rude. "I could taste coffee when you kissed me and I just didn't like it."

"It's ok, I know you're still terribly frustrated that the baby isn't here yet" she replies genuinely.

"Can you help me out of bed please?" I ask.

"Sure" she smiles while reaching down to take my hand and gently help me up.

"So how are you feeling after the incident in the middle of the night…you know down there" I say gesturing at her crotch.

"I'm fine" Santana waves it off like it's no big deal.

"I feel so bad for hurting you Santana" I say honestly.

"Trust me you didn't. It was just a shooting pain for like a second and then it went right away" she states. "If I'm being honest, you've been a lot rougher with me during sex" she smirks.

"Ok" I laugh.

"Hey do you remember that one time not long after we became official girlfriends where we were about to have sex and you kneed me so hard between the legs?" she asks.

"Yeah" I laugh. "I was afraid to straddle you for about a week after in case I accidentally hurt you."

"Anyway don't worry about last night, it really is no big deal" she shrugs.

"After the baby is born then I guess you won't need me to make it up to you" I smirk slightly while also shrugging my shoulders.

"I mean, I was just trying to be polite Britt but it did hurt like a bitch so perhaps you could make it up to me some time" she smiles.

"Yeah, I thought as much" I laugh.

XXX

Aiden is down for a nap just now so I'm just clearing up from lunch when I hear Santana enter the kitchen. I don't really think too much of it until I feel her presence behind me and her arms wrapping around my waist with her body pressed into my back.

"Babe…no" I groan. Don't get me wrong I like when Santana is physically affectionate but I just feel really weird today.

"What's wrong?" she asks while gently kissing the side of my face.

"I just feel so horrible right now and disgusting" I sigh. Another wonderful part of pregnancy is inability to regulate my temperature properly so one minute I'm cold and the next I'm sweating profusely and right now, it's the sweating.

"You are neither horrible nor disgusting honey" she says reassuringly.

"Well I feel it" I state while turning around in her arms. "I should probably take a shower or something right now."

"You can do that if you think it helps but I promise you you're absolutely fine" she smiles. "You could even try a bath if you wanted to relax a little more" she suggests.

"I did think of that but somehow I don't think I'll get back out of the tub" I chuckle.

"You know I'm never opposed to seeing you naked so just shout on me and I'll help you out" she smirks.

"Yeah I don't like you seeing me fully clothed at the moment so I doubt I'll like you seeing me completed naked" I reply.

"That's true" she nods. "I get it because I mean if I was as beautiful as you then I wouldn't want to share that with anyone, I'd want to keep that beautiful body all to myself."

"Thank you" I smile. I don't know how Santana does it but everything she says always makes me feel better. Don't get me wrong I don't mean she completely takes my worries away because this pregnancy is still stressing me out but she does help me tremendously.

* * *

Santana's POV

Aiden is with my parents tonight spending some time with them to let Brittany and I relax a little since we've both been getting worked up about the baby not being here yet. We were just relaxing on the couch together watching some rubbish TV when Brittany felt like she needed to use the bathroom so I helped her up from the couch. She insisted I didn't need to walk her through to the bathroom but luckily I did because as soon as we got there she felt a slight twinge before her water broke.

"What are the chances of that happening, Aiden is with his grandparents the night you go into labour" I say chuckling slightly. This couldn't have been a more perfect night to give birth. I mean don't get me wrong I love my son but it would have been a bit hectic to drop him off on the way to the hospital and he's a bit too young to be going into the delivery room with us. No doubt my parents will meet us there though and watch him.

"Yeah" Brittany smiles before wincing in pain again.

"How bad are the contractions?" I ask.

"They aren't that close together but this baby should have been born way before now so I don't want to take any chances in not going to the hospital right away" she replies.

"No it's ok, as soon as I grab your hospital bag we'll go straight there" I say while frantically looking around for the bag. The excitement about the baby has got to me so I can't remember where I put the bag.

"Check the closet" Brittany states while working on her breathing as another contraction hits.

"Oh yeah I put it there didn't I?" I say while quickly running to the closet and grabbing the bag. We then quickly make our way to the hospital while calling our parents from the car.

"The moment is finally here" Brittany smiles at me, relieved this pregnancy is almost over.

"I know" I smile back in excitement. "Do you want me to sing to you like I did before Aiden was born?" I ask.

"No I think that just made me mad in the end last time, did it not?" she asks.

"Yeah it probably did" I nod. As soon as we make it to the hospital I help Brittany out of the car and we make our way inside as quickly as we can. "Why don't you wait here and I'll find out where the doctor is?" I suggest.

"Ok" Brittany nods.

"Quick I need a doctor, I'm having my baby" I rush out as I run over to the reception desk.

"Oh honey, I don't think that you are" the woman behind the desk replies while folding her arms and looking me up and down questioningly. I assume she's a midwife or something rather than a receptionist judging by her attire.

"I beg your pardon, I can assure you my baby is on its way so I need a doctor" I state defensively. "The water broke and the contractions have started, we phoned ahead before we left the house."

"So how far along are you?" she asks.

"About 42 or 43 weeks, past the due date anyway" I state.

"Call someone from psychiatry" she mumbles to the woman beside her causing me to frown in confusion. What the fuck does that mean?

"Excuse me?" I ask confused. "Look can you just get me my damn doctor" I shake my head.

"There's no way you're 42 weeks pregnant so I won't be getting you a doctor right now so if you don't leave and stop wasting my time then I will either call security to escort you out or get a someone to examine your mental wellbeing" the woman tells me.

"No not me you idiot" I shake my head. "My wife is in labour and we need a doctor right now" I state annoyed.

"You're wife, ok" the woman nods disbelievingly.

"This has got to be some sort of sick joke right now" I shake my head. "My wife is sitting over there in a great deal of pain and about to give birth and you can't even get me a doctor. Do I really need to bring her over here to prove it to you?" I ask.

"Well…" the woman shrugs.

"This is ridiculous" I mutter as I rush over to get Brittany.

"Please I need a doctor" Brittany says almost begging as we reach the reception desk.

"Oh I'm sorry, I thought…" the woman tries to explain but I don't let her finish.

"Save it" I state. "I'm going to sue you and this hospital" I snap at the woman.

"Santana I work here" Brittany states.

"I don't care Brittany, the treatment we've just had is despicable" I say just as our doctor comes over to the desk.

"You're finally in labour huh?" the doctor smiles at Brittany.

"Yeah and I don't think it's going to be long" she says as another contraction comes.

"Come on let's get you into the delivery suite" the doctor says while helping Brittany along the corridor. As soon as we get to the room, the doctor gets Brittany comfortable ready to examine her.

"Who do I speak to if I want to make a complaint?" I ask the doctor.

"Is there something wrong?" the doctor frowns at me.

"You're damn right there is" I say still annoyed about earlier.

"Santana forget about it right now, we've got more pressing things to deal with like a baby coming out of me" Brittany shakes her head.

"Sorry" I say while reassuringly squeezing her hand.

"I know you don't want to hear this but you're not quite fully ready yet to give birth" the doctor tells Brittany.

"No I must be" Brittany shakes her head. "My contractions are really quite bad and I'm well overdue."

XXX

"You're about to become a mom again, you could look a bit happier" Emma jokes as she comes over to me.

"I'm scared" I say turning my head to look at Emma as a tear rolls down my cheek.

"Scared of what?" Emma asks worriedly as she puts her arms around me to hug me. "You already have a beautiful boy over there so you've done all this before. Everything will be the same as it was with Aiden."

"I'm not scared about being a mom again; I'm scared of losing my wife" I admit as a few more tears fall.

"She's just in pain Santana, she doesn't mean what she's saying" Emma says while pulling back to look at me. "She loves you Santana."

"It's not that" I shake my head. "I am scared she haemorrhages again and this time it's not the same results."

"Oh honey" Emma says hugging me tightly again. "You can't think like that. Just because she was bleeding out the first time does not mean it happens every time, I promise you" she assures me.

"The doctor said there was a higher risk though" I say.

"Yes there is a risk but there's a risk with everything" she points out. "The doctors will be well aware about the haemorrhage before so they'll take extra precautions as well. Brittany is not going anywhere Santana, I just know it."

"Ok" I say taking a deep breath.

"Now as much as I like that we're kinda friends now I think your wife will want you more than I do" Emma points out.

"Yeah I should go back in, I was only meant to be out here getting her some ice chips" I say.


	35. Welcome to the world

Chapter 35: Welcome to the world

Santana's POV

As soon as I walk into the room with the ice chips, I notice everyone crowding around Brittany saying something about her being fully dilated. It really didn't take long because we haven't been at the hospital all that long. This just means in less than a few minutes I could have another son or a daughter. It does scare me slightly but it also excites me because I've always known I wanted kids and it's finally happening.

"SANTANA!" Brittany screams as soon as she sees me.

"I'm coming" I say while putting the ice down and rushing over to her.

"Ok Brittany when you feel you want to push then push" the doctor says while taking her position at the bottom of the bed.

"Ok" Brittany nods and as soon as the first urge to push comes, she pushes.

"That's it, you can do it Britt, just keep breathing" I encourage her.

"I know how to do this Santana, I've did it before remember" she snaps at me.

"I know baby, I'm just trying to help" I say softly.

"Well help by not getting me pregnant ever again" she says exhausted while throwing her head back.

"Keep focusing on what you're doing Brittany" the doctor encourages.

"We'll leave you to it just now but come and find us as soon as the baby is born" my mom says while heading to the door with Brittany's mom.

"No stay, I want you both to stay" I reply while walking over to them. I could really use the support because if something happens to Brittany I won't be in my right state of mind. I'm nervous enough as it is just now but once that baby is born I'm going to be a wreck in case she haemorrhages again so I could really do with both of our moms here.

"Ok, we will" Karen nods and smiles before reassuringly squeezing my hand.

"It's going to be ok Santana" my mom whispers.

"We don't know that" I sigh.

"Santana get over here right now!" Brittany screams through the pain.

"Sorry" I apologise while rushing back over to her once again and placing her hand in mine. "You can squeeze my hand if you want to" I tell her and at the next push she squeezes my hand tightly. After a few moments, I find myself drifting towards the bottom of the bed.

"Head Santana" Brittan says almost shouting while pulling me back.

"Babe not this again" I shake my head. "I want to see my baby being born" I tell her. When she was in labour with Aiden she wouldn't even let me move past her hips and I really wanted to see my children being born.

"If you look down there now then you're unlikely to ever go back there" she states.

"Oh trust me, there's nothing stopping me from going there again. I can assure you of that" I smirk and the doctor just looks at me as if to say this isn't the time or place for talking like that. "Sorry" I say embarrassed to the doctor.

"Ok I don't mean to rush you Brittany but if we wait any longer the baby will get tired so I really need you to push nice and hard for me, can you do that?" the doctor says encouragingly to Brittany.

"What do you think I've been trying to do" Brittany says annoyed while giving the doctor a glare.

"I know it's hard but you need to do this now. You need to push as hard as you possibly can Brittany because time is of the essence right now" the doctor states.

"Just a nice big hard push, ok?" I smile at her while squeezing her hand in reassurance. "Think about the times when I annoy you so much that you want to hit me. Just channel that energy if you were to hit me, put as much effort into pushing as you would to hitting me."

"I could never hit you" she replies tiredly.

"Ok well think about slapping the doctor for saying you weren't pushing right" I whisper in her ear and she laughs slightly. "Trust me, think about it and channel that energy" I smile.

"Ok" she nods before pushing as hard as she can.

"That's it, the head is here" the doctor states. "Just keep going Brittany" she says and eventually the doctor has a little baby in her arms.

"It's a girl Britt" I say excitedly when I first see her.

"We'll give you a hold in just a second, we're just going to clean her up quickly" the doctor smiles at Brittany and I while taking the baby to the other side of the room. I quickly then focus my attention on Brittany since I know the baby is ok.

"Britt we have a girl" I say while squeezing her hand in mine.

"I heard" she replies quietly.

"We need to think of names now" I state.

"Ok" she nods.

"Brittany, look at me" I say loudly.

"I…"

"Keep talking to me please Brittany" I state. I need to make sure she's still alert.

"Santana…" my mom says trying to get my attention.

"Brittany say something please" I tell her while shaking her hand slightly.

"I'm tired" Brittany replies exhausted while throwing her head back against the pillow and closing her eyes.

"You need to keep talking though babe and keep your eyes open" I state.

"Santana she is ok so let her get her breath back please" my mom says obviously knowing why I want Brittany to keep alert.

"No I need her to keep talking to me so I know she is awake and she doesn't bleed out" I state staring at Brittany to make sure she is still with me.

"I love you" Brittany sighs, "but please give me a minute."

"But..."

"I feel fine, I just need a second to get my breath back" Brittany says taking a deep breath.

"Excuse me doctor, hurry up please" I say slightly panicked when I realise there isn't one medical person around Brittany. If something happens then they can hardly act fast if they are nowhere near her.

"Santana, calm down please" my mom states. "Brittany is talking to you right now so there is nothing wrong."

"Exactly" Brittany sighs.

"Am I the only one who gives a damn about Brittany right now?" I shake my head. "No one seems to care that she haemorrhaged the last time and it could easily happen again."

"I appreciate your concern Santana but she is ok and she isn't bleeding" Karen assures me.

"Are you sure?" I ask for clarification.

"I'm sure" Karen smiles at me. I suppose I should believe her because she is a nurse herself so I guess she would know if Brittany wasn't ok.

"Come here" Brittany says tiredly while holding her hand out. I take her hand in mine and walk a few inches closer to her. "I'm ok, don't worry" she smiles softly before kissing my hand.

"Ok" I nod back and lean down to kiss her lips. After a few moments, the doctor walks over to us with the baby in her arms.

"Ok here is your little baby" the doctor smiles while gently placing the baby in Brittany's arms.

"Great, another Santana" she says sarcastically while rolling her eyes as she takes in our little girl's appearance.

"Britt!" I exclaim while laughing uncontrollably. That has got to be the funniest and cutest thing I have ever seen when someone has just held their baby for the first time.

"I'm sorry but come on, can't at least one of our kids look like me?" she asks.

"She does look like you and so does Aiden, it just so happens they both have darker hair" I point out. Aiden did look more like Brittany when he was first born but his hair is beginning to darken a bit now so he does look a lot like me.

"She still looks cute though" Brittany smiles down at the baby.

"So cute" I agree.

"I've got to say, I think she does look more like you Brittany" my mom points out. "If she had lighter hair and your eye colour she would be the double of you."

"Yeah she has your facial features Brittany" Karen smiles.

"Was I this cute when I was born mom?" I ask while looking over at my mom.

"No you were an ugly little thing" my mom teases causing everyone to laugh but me.

"Whatever" I say rolling my eyes at my mom. "Whether or not I was cute, there's no denying that Britt and I make the cutest babies."

"So are you still planning on breastfeeding Brittany?" the midwife asks walking over to us.

"Hopefully but I did have to stop early with my first child because I got a lot of migraines and I couldn't cope sometimes without painkillers but obviously I can't take anything when I breastfeed" Brittany replies honestly.

"I don't know how much has been explained yet but the first hour after birth is the ideal time to breastfeed before the baby goes to sleep so if you're comfortable, we could start now" the midwife replies.

"Um…ok" Brittany nods.

"Why don't you two get a coffee or something and let the others know everything went well and I'll come and get you once Brittany's finished" I say to my mom and Karen. I don't think they would have hung around anyway but I didn't want Brittany to feel uncomfortable doing it with a crowd so I thought I better say something to make sure.

"Ok" my mom smiles.

"Congratulations sweetheart" Karen says while kissing Brittany's head.

"Thanks mom" Brittany smiles and then both our moms leave.

"You can see she is nuzzling into your chest already so if we just loosen your gown and pull it down a little then in an ideal world she'll locate your nipple and be able to just latch on" the midwife says while loosening Brittany's gown at the top.

"Ok" Brittany nods while adjusting her hold slightly so it's more comfortable for her and the baby. The baby seems to latch on really quickly and begins feeding.

"You're a pro at this" the midwife smiles at Brittany. "I'll leave you to it but if there's any problems I'll be right outside at the desk so just buzz for me or Santana you can come and get me" she says.

"Ok thank you" I say.

"Yes thank you" Brittany looks up momentarily to smile at the midwife before she leaves and then focuses on the baby again. I guess since this is our second child and there wasn't any complications then the staff are happy to leave us with the baby ourselves.

"So how are you feeling?" I ask while gently sitting on the bed next to Brittany.

"Um…like I've just pushed a baby out of me" Brittany jokes.

"That's true" I nod.

"Seriously though I'm ok. Maybe a little bit tired but nothing I can't handle" she admits.

"That's good" I say while putting my arm over her shoulder as I continue to watch our daughter. She is so unbelievably cute that I can't stop looking at her. "Just in case you're worried, it's the baby I'm staring at, I'm not ogling your boobs" I smile.

"It wouldn't bother me if you were because nothing can take away how happy I am right now" she smiles back at me. After a while the midwife comes back into the room.

"Sorry to interrupt but once you're finished breastfeeding we'd like to transfer you to another room where you'll spend the night since this is just the delivery suite" the midwife says.

"That's fine, I think the baby is finished anyway" I say noticing she hasn't been feeding for a few minutes now.

"Ok well I'll get another few members of staff and we'll get you transferred down the corridor" she smiles before leaving again.

After a few moments more medical staff come in and get the baby into her wheeled bassinet and take Brittany through to the other room. As they're doing it, I take the opportunity to let our families know we're switching rooms and to give us another few minutes to get settled in before coming to meet the baby.

"So I know you've had a baby before so I won't bore you with all the stuff you need to know right now but the general rules apply. No strenuous lifting or bending until the muscles get back to full strength, always take the baby in the bassinet if you're going anywhere for the next while Brittany because postpartum fainting is not uncommon so I don't want you to be dizzy with a baby in your arms. Also just be careful if you want to shower in the next few hours because you might feel faint then as well" the midwife says. "If there is anything you want to ask then please do, there's always someone around" she smiles.

"Ok" I smile back and then the midwife leaves again.

"I suppose we should let everyone come in now and meet the baby" Brittany says looking at me as I pick the baby up.

"If you're tired or whatever then I can put them off and just let Aid come in" I suggest while sitting down on the seat next to the bed with the baby.

"No I'm fine, I'm excited to show everyone our little girl" she smiles.

"Ok I'll send everyone in then" I say while standing up again. "Do you want to hold her while I get everyone or shall I place her back in the bassinet?"

"Can you lay her down just now because I need to fix my pillows so I'm more comfortable" she smiles while adjusting her position on the bed and I gently put the baby down. I then leave the room to go and get everyone. The minute Aiden sees me, he jumps off of Emma's knee and races over to me.

"Ok everyone, do you want to come and meet my daughter?" I ask while taking Aiden's hand in mine.

"Try and stop us" my dad smiles. We all then make our way back to the room.

"Mommy" Aiden beams while running into the room.

"Hi sweetheart" she smiles while helping him onto the bed.

"Brittany" I warn. She has been told to be careful and not to do any heavy lifting.

"Aid is light as a feather Santana, just like his mom" she smiles at me.

"The compliment won't make me overlook what you just did honey" I tell her. "No heavy lifting please and bending over like that."

"Baby?" Aiden questions while looking around the room.

"She's right over there, do you want to see her?" I smile at Aiden.

"Yes" he claps his hands excitedly.

"You can all get a hold in a second but I think the proud big brother should get the first hold before everyone" I tell the others as I gently pick up the baby and walk over to the bed.

"Sit down nice and close to mommy for me" I tell Aiden. He's very young himself so I want to make sure someone else is there to help him hold the baby.

"Ok" he smiles while moving closer to Brittany.

"Aiden meet your new baby sister" I say while carefully placing the baby in his arms with Brittany supporting her head.

"Oh I think I need to get a picture of this, Santana sit closer to them" my mom says while digging out her phone. I move in closer and my mom takes a picture of the 4 of us.

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The next day

After everyone got a chance to see the baby last night, they all went home since it was pretty late anyway when we got to the hospital. Emma took Aiden home and her and Artie stayed at our house to look after him and will bring him back here this morning. I meanwhile spent the night in the pull out bed they have in the room for the partners.

Brittany has just finished breastfeeding the baby and we've just put her down to sleep so now I'm helping Brittany get ready. She was feeling a bit funny this morning which we think is just lack of sleep but nevertheless, I want to make sure she's ok so whether she likes it or not I'm going to help her shower.

"Santana honestly, you don't need to be in the bathroom because the dizziness has passed" Brittany shakes her head. "Just stay there and keep an eye on the baby" she says while trying to close the door of the adjoining bathroom.

"No I've wheeled the bassinet right over to the door and I'll watch you both" I state while putting my foot in the door so she can't close it.

"It's really not necessary" she says trying to assure me but it doesn't work.

"Just step in the shower please and hold on while you do" I smile at her while taking her hand so I can help her into the shower.

"Fine" she sighs while dropping her gown and stepping into the shower.

"You're only doing this because it's going to be a while before you see me fully naked again" she states.

"That does sound like me" I chuckle, "but in all honesty that's not what this is, I just want to make sure you're ok."

As soon as Brittany was showered and changed, the doctor came in to check on both her and the baby. Everything seemed good with both of them so the doctor was in and out like a flash. Brittany and I are sitting on the bed as Brittany cradles our little girl.

"Did you mean it yesterday?" I ask hesitantly.

"Mean what?" Brittany replies quietly so as not to wake the baby.

"That you don't ever want any more children?" I ask.

"When did I say that?" she asks, looking at me and frowning in confusion.

"Last night during the labour" I reply.

"Honey anything I said during the labour was probably a lie. I was just frustrated because I was in pain" she tells me.

"You told me you loved me, does that mean that's not true?" I smile slightly trying to make light of the situation.

"That's definitely true" she smiles while leaning up to peck my lips.

"So…" I say slightly more seriously. "You are open to having more children?" I ask. We never actually discussed this after my talk with Quinn months ago. The time never really felt right and the longer I left it the more I sort of put it in the back of my mind.

"I'm definitely open to it but it doesn't mean I want to start knocking them out every 9 months" she chuckles.

"Ok" I nod. She says she's open to it so that's good enough for me just now.

"It really has to be in the future though Santana because I've just had two babies in the space of 21 months so I want things to settle down a little first" she tells me.

"How long are we talking because I'm not getting any younger babe" I say honestly.

"Baby you're 31, I think you're still very young so don't worry about it" she smiles.

"Almost 32" I point out.

"Look I'll make you a deal, if we've not had a baby by the time you turn 34 then on your 34th birthday we'll start trying right away" she says. "Does that work for you?" she asks.

"Yes" I smile. That's 2 years and 3 months away, I think I can do that.

"I must warn you though, get me pregnant in the next 3 months before your 32nd birthday then they'll be a divorce" she teases.

"Ok" I laugh. "So I think I'm going to quickly step out and call home to see when Emma is bringing Aiden to the hospital and I'll grab a coffee on my way back. Can I get you anything?" I ask while getting off the bed.

"Maybe another bottle of water, this one isn't as cold anymore" she replies.

"No problem, I won't be long" I say while quickly kissing her and the baby before leaving.

As soon as I make the call home, Emma tells me that she is just leaving with Aiden so they'll be here as soon as they can be. I then quickly grab the water and the coffee before heading back to Brittany and the baby.

"Look at you sitting there all sexy" I smile while walking into the room.

"I'm ok Santana" Brittany smiles at me.

"I know but I'm just saying you look…"

"I know you're trying to make me feel better in case I'm feeling slightly insecure with my post baby body but honestly I'm ok" she smiles again.

"Ok" I nod.

"I wake up most mornings these days looking like a monster but still, I'm fine" she sighs slightly. "As soon as we get home I'll feel a million times better and I won't look so pale. These hospital gowns do nothing for my complexion" she states. I know she hates them and she doesn't have to wear them but she finds them easier to wear at the moment when she's breastfeeding.

XXX

"So are we any further forward on names then because the doctors seem pleased with you and the baby's progress so I'm thinking we could actually go home by the late afternoon and I don't want to fill out all the paperwork until we have a name" I say.

"I still quite like the girl names we picked out when I was pregnant with Aiden before we found out if we were having a boy or girl" Brittany admits.

"I liked those too so what shall we go with?" I ask because I really liked them both.

"I'm leaning more towards Ella but that's completely up to you" she replies.

"I like that name so it's settled" I smile. "What about a middle name?" I ask.

"I had a thought but if you don't agree then we'll pick something else. Also I don't know if it is too much of a mouthful since we're now going with the first name Ella" she says nervously.

"Ok so what is it?" I ask.

"Well I feel like my sister and I have gotten really close recently and she's so good with Aiden so I thought about naming the baby after her in some way but I don't know if Ella Emma Lopez sounds right or if you want that since you and my sister have a weird relationship" she replies.

"I don't think it sounds too bad and if it has a special meaning then that makes it even better" I say honestly. Emma and I are good now and she really does look after Aiden when we need her to so I'm definitely ok with this.

"It's not like we'll use her middle name all the time anyway" she reasons.

"I'm happy with it Britt so if that's what you want then it's cool" I smile. We all use my last name anyway which I love so I really don't mind Brittany giving her a middle name more representative of her family like she did with Aiden since his middle name is Pierce.

"Aiden what do you think of your sisters name?" Brittany asks him. "Do you like it?" she asks.

"Y-sss" he nods his head eagerly while taking Ella's hand in his. I've got to say I was slightly apprehensive about how Aiden would feel once the baby came but he seems to really like her and it doesn't seem to bother him he's not an only child anymore.

"How are we doing Brittany?" the doctor asks walking into the room.

"Really good actually" Brittany nods.

"Well I just want to do some final checks and then I think you can go home as soon as the paperwork is all sorted out" she smiles.

"Sounds good" Brittany smiles.

"Aiden why don't you help me pack up all our things while mommy and Ella get checked over with the doctor" I suggest to Aiden.

"O-k" he replies after a minute. I start packing up most of the stuff while Aiden puts some of the stuffed toys and other gifts we got for Ella into a bag. It really doesn't take us long to put everything in bags because most of our friends said they'd wait until we were home to send us cards and gifts to save crowding us at the hospital when it wasn't going to be a long stay anyway.

"How about you and I go to the desk and see what paperwork needs sorted and let mommy and Ella finish up in here?" I say while lifting Aiden up.

"Um…" he contemplates the idea for a moment.

"You won't miss anything Aid" Brittany smiles at him. If Aiden has the slightest feeling something more exciting is happening and he'll miss it if he leaves then he just doesn't leave.

"Baby" Aiden says while pointing at Ella.

"She'll be right here with mommy when we get back" I assure him. "So what do you say, do you want to come and help me?" I ask and he nods.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Saturday 30th October 2021

Emma is throwing a party tonight at Brittany's parents' house. Initially it was just a small thing to welcome Ella to the family but considering Halloween is tomorrow then we figured we'd go all out and dress up too. Since it was short notice though then we're dressing up however we like rather than trying to make it really scary.

"She is the cutest grizzly bear I have ever seen" Brittany says smiling over at Ella in her little furry onesie that's meant to look like a bear.

"I did well with the costumes didn't I?" I say triumphantly.

"Yes you did" Brittany laughs.

"Aiden looks so cute in his race-car outfit too" I point out as Aiden runs past us with his cousin Harry.

"He really does" Brittany smiles. It really is so cute how obsessed he is with cars. Sometimes when we pick him up from childcare, he just doesn't want to get out of the car to go into the house. He'd rather sit in the driver's seat holding onto the wheel.

"So how are you feeling about your costume?" I ask.

"It's a little snug on me but that's to be expected since I've just had a baby so I'm not as slim as I was at 17" Brittany states. She decided to dress up as a dancer and went with an outfit she wore a few years back for a competition.

"I think it looks great on you to be honest and I'm not just saying that" I tell her honestly. "I really don't think you've gained much weight at all with this pregnancy."

"Yeah I mean as soon as I get my 6 week check-up and can start exercising then I'm hoping it's really just toning up my muscles a little that I need to do" she admits. "Anyway enough about that, this is a party so let's have fun" she smiles.

"Exactly" I smile back.

"You look really sexy by the way" she says while putting her arms around me. I dressed up as a cheerleader and wore my outfit from high school which surprisingly still fits me.

"Thank you" I smile while leaning up to steal a quick kiss.

"I'm surprised your outfit wasn't all dusty and discoloured with the amount of time it's been sitting at the back of the garage. I mean you were in high school back in the 70s right?" she teases.

"Oh another age joke?" I laugh. "You're so going to get it Pierce for that" I state.

"What are you going to do, tickle me or something?" she laughs.

"Yeah I might just do that in front of all or friends and family and you will be forced to surrender in front of them all because you can't handle it" I say while beginning to tickle her sides.

"Babe, stop…please" she laughs while trying to move away from me.

"Tell me when I really was in high school then" I smile while continuing to tickle her.

"I'm sure you graduated in 2008" she states.

"Correct answer" I say while stopping what I'm doing.

"Does it bother you when I make jokes about your age?" she asks seriously.

"When you do it I don't care because I know you don't really mean them. You just do it to be funny and have a laugh whereas when other people do it, I feel like they're kinda judging me. I know it doesn't bother you that we're not the same age but other people do it because they think it's wrong" I admit.

"Sometimes I forget there's even an age difference between us because it's not all that big anyway and we're just so perfect together that age isn't an issue" she states. "Although I must point out that my immaturity can make the age difference apparent sometimes."

"We can all have our immature moments babe, I wouldn't dwell on it too much" I smile.

"Now I know I can't drink since I'm breastfeeding at the moment but you once told me you were a pro at putting your own spin on non-alcoholic drinks so do you care to make me something?" Brittany asks.

"I can definitely do that so let's go" I smile while taking her hand and leading her to the kitchen.

XXX

"Mom can you watch Aiden for a little bit, I'm going upstairs with Brittany because Ella needs feeding and changing" I say.

"Wow I had no idea it took 2 sets of boobs to breastfeed" Jason smirks.

"You're not funny" I glare at my brother.

"Look you and Brittany take Ella upstairs, I'll stay with Aiden" my mom smiles. "Jason go and annoy someone else please" she says turning to my brother.

"Thanks mom" I smile. "Ok Aiden stay with grandma Lopez just now and we'll be back in 5 minutes" I tell him but he just shakes his head and holds onto my leg.

"They won't be long so why don't you come and help me find your grandpa" my mom smiles at Aiden.

"No" he shakes his head again while holding his hands in the air meaning he wants me to pick him up. "Ella" he states and I chuckle slightly. All this time, here was me thinking he wanted Brittany and me when really it's Ella he wants to stay with.

"Come on then, you can help mom change Ella's diaper" Brittany smiles at him as the 4 of us head upstairs.

"Why am I the one on diaper duty?" I frown.

"Because I'm the one that needs to feed her" she smirks.

"That's not fair Britt, I'd much rather feed her than deal with diapers" I state. The task is a lot cleaner than dealing with diapers.

"Do you think its fun taking your breast out in public?" she asks.

"Of course not but this isn't public when we're going upstairs so technically you are getting the better end of the deal tonight" I say.

"Look how about tomorrow we'll swap tasks once I've had a moment to express some milk and you can bottle feed her and I'll do the diapers" she suggests.

"Ok" I smile. "Come on Aid, let's get the diaper ready for Ella" I say while getting out the things we need from the bag.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

This is Ella's first outing to the grocery store so it can either go swimmingly well or really badly. Usually going round the grocery store is a breeze because one of us can take the cart and the other can keep Aiden in check but now with a baby one has to take Ella and the other the cart so that just leaves Aiden to stroll around and misbehave. We have tried numerous times to sit him on the chair in the cart but it never ends well so he often walks around or gets carried some of the way.

"Aiden why don't you hold onto the cart and help mom pick up the things we need" I say to him.

"No" he shakes his head at me before going over to walk with Brittany who is pushing Ella in the baby carriage.

"Ok" I say chuckling slightly.

"I'm feeling in the mood to cook tonight so why don't I give you the night off and I'll make us all something nice?" Brittany suggests.

"Sure, sounds good" I smile. Usually I do most of the cooking at night since Brittany has a lot going on with the baby and stuff.

"What do you fancy?" she asks.

"To eat or in general because if you mean in general then you know I only have eyes for you" I smirk.

"To eat babe" she smiles back.

"I don't mind, surprise me" I tell her.

"Ok" she nods just as Aiden walks over to the cart with something in his hand.

"Aiden there's enough bananas at home sweetheart" I tell him but he just shakes his head and throws them in the cart anyway.

"It's fine Santana, he likes mashed bananas on toast so he can have that for lunch tomorrow or something so we'll use them up" Brittany replies.

"Ok" I reply and we continue on with our shopping. "Do you think this is enough diapers babe or should I grab some more?" I ask.

"I would just grab another packet since we're here and it'll save us running to the store so often" Brittany replies.

"Cool" I smile.

"We also need to get some more kids toothpaste for Aiden. He and you used up most of it making smiley faces on the tiles last night" Brittany states.

"Yeah, sorry about that" I laugh nervously.

"Yeah you will be tonight when I punish you both" she smirks.

"What are you going to do?" I ask intrigued.

"I haven't decided yet but once I speak to Ella and discuss it, we'll let you both know" she teases.

"Ella loves me too much to punish me so she won't agree" I smile.

"She will though because Ella loves her mommy too and her mommy carried her for 10 excruciating months so she owes me" she smirks and I guess it's a fair point. We're just slowly making our way through the health and beauty section to make sure we don't need anything else when Aiden runs over to me with something in his hand.

"Aiden where did you get those?" I ask completely mortified as I quickly take the box of condoms from Aiden. He doesn't reply, he just turns and walks away. I meanwhile quickly throw them in the cart. I'm not about to embarrass myself walking half way up an aisle and putting them back on the shelf because there are too many people around so it's easier to just throw them in the cart.

"Someone thinks they're getting lucky" Brittany smirks. "So who is the lucky girl because we all know it can't be me right now?"

"Britt, don't" I say shaking my head in embarrassment.

"On second thoughts, I don't actually think they'll work babe because they say extra small and I can assure you from my experience you are not even remotely sm…"

"Thank you that's enough" I say embarrassed.

"That's a compliment honey" she smiles.

"I know and thank you" I smile. I do appreciate it but the feeling of embarrassment was overwhelming the compliment for me.

* * *

Brittany's POV

The last few days haven't been the easiest with a new-born and a one year old but I really wouldn't have it any other way. We're still trying to get Ella into a routine but at the same time make sure Aiden is doing ok. He's been coping really well with a new baby in the house and he seems to be having fun. He does get a little upset when he can't play with her at times since she's too little to play certain things. He doesn't quite understand yet that she's not as mobile as he is.

"Mommy!" Aiden screams running into the living room causing me to internally curse since Ella is sleeping. I literally just lay down on the couch exhausted and closed my eyes after finally getting Ella settled after an hour of crying. I don't want her waking up any time soon.

"Yes buddy" I smile at him.

"Mom, bad" he frowns at me.

"Was mom naughty?" I ask while sitting up.

"Yes" he nods his head while grabbing a hold of me to try and get up onto the couch.

"I'll help you" I say while picking him up and placing him on the couch next to me. "So tell me, what did mom do wrong?"

"Bad" he replies while climbing onto my knee.

"Yes but in what way" I laugh slightly. It's so adorable how one minute he's Santana's best friend and the next he's mad at her about something.

"Bad" he says again before moving slightly to get comfortable on my knee before he closes his eyes and wraps his arms around me.

"Are you tired?" I ask but he doesn't reply, he just sighs slightly which is usually a sign he's about to go into a deep sleep. I don't want to disturb him so I just put my arms around him tightly, throw my head back against the back of the couch and close my eyes. I think I had only been resting my eyes for 5 minutes when I felt the couch dip slightly beside me.

"Hi" Santana whispers while smiling at me when my eyes open.

"Hey" I smile back.

"You're cute" she states.

"And you're bad" I tease.

"I am?" she questions slightly confused.

"Yeah according to your son mom was bad" I smirk.

"Oh that" she laughs before quickly regretting it since the kids are lying sleeping and could wake up any second with the noise.

"What happened?" I ask interested.

"I stole a grape from his plate to eat and he went running away" she chuckles quietly. "It was honestly no big deal."

"Babe you know grapes are his favourite fruit" I tell her.

"I know but I didn't think he'd run away and tell on me to you" she chuckles. "As soon as he wakes up I'll say sorry."

"Ok" I smile. I know it's no big deal but if we can avoid Aiden taking a tantrum by trying not to upset him then we should do that.

"You look tired, why don't you try and get some sleep and I'll just sit here and watch over the kids" Santana suggests.

"Won't you be bored?" I ask.

"I'll just flip through a magazine or something" she shrugs. "Honestly go to sleep Britt" she smiles.

"Ok" I nod while leaning my head back and resting my eyes. I really don't manage to get much sleep though because Aiden begins wriggling around in my lap.

"Can't sleep?" Santana asks.

"I can't sleep when I want to and I can sleep when I'm not supposed to" I chuckle lightly.

"I know what you mean" Santana nods in agreement just as I feel Aiden wakening up.

"Bad" Aiden mumbles sleepily as he notices Santana.

"I'm sorry for stealing your fruit" she smiles at him.

"Aid's" he replies while turning in my lap to cling onto my neck.

"I know it was yours but mom was just hungry, I won't do it again" Santana smiles while leaning closer to kiss his head.

"O-k" he nods.

XXX

"Come here" Santana says while reaching out to take my hand to pull me towards her.

"What are you doing?" I smile.

"Sit down" she says pointing to her lap.

"Santana I don't think…"

"Just sit down Britt" she smiles so I sit down on her lap and she wraps her arms around my waist.

"It's been a while since I could do this" I smile back at her while wrapping my arms around her neck.

"I know which is why…" Santana is interrupted by Ella crying.

"I better check on her" I say while getting off Santana's lap.

"I'll get her, you get into bed" Santana assures me.

"Ok" I smile while getting ready and getting into bed as Santana checks on Ella. After a few minutes, Ella settles so Santana comes over to the bed.

"She is finally sleeping" Santana says while crawling into bed and cuddling into me.

"That's good" I smile.

"I feel like the only time I get you alone is in bed and even then we're so exhausted that we just crash and don't register being together" she says while nuzzling her face into the crook of my neck. "You smell really good by the way" she points out.

"I didn't realise baby sick was that nice" I chuckle.

* * *

Santana's POV

"Brittany…Brittany?" I say while gently shaking her so she'll wake up.

"Brittany is peacefully sleeping so go away" Brittany groans while rolling over in bed to get away from me.

"Ella needs a feed though" I reply.

"Well go and feed her then, it's your turn on night duty" she states while closing her eyes.

"I know it's my turn but I can't feed her right now, you need to do it" I state.

"Stop annoying me Santana, I need some sleep" Brittany sighs. "Just feed your daughter please."

"Fine, just give me your boob and I'll be on my way" I shake my head.

"Santana…" Brittany sighs while sitting up on the bed. "What the hell is going on because I'm pretty sure I counted correctly when I was expressing the milk so there should be a bottle there for her?"

"Well actually…I had an accident" I reply nervously. I know Brittany is super pissed at me right now.

"What kind of accident?" she frowns in confusion.

"I dropped the bottle when the lid wasn't on and spilled all the milk" I admit.

"Fine" she shakes her head while getting out of bed.

"I'm really sorry babe" I say apologetically.

"It's ok" she says while taking Ella from me and sitting down. "Me again sweetheart but that's only because mom thought it would be funny to throw your milk across the room to avoid feeding you tonight" she says smiling down at Ella.

"Brittany I didn't do it on purpose, I just…"

"Relax, I'm just messing with you" she smiles over at me before paying attention to Ella again.

"So you're not mad anymore that I woke you up?" I question.

"I was initially but now I'm awake I don't mind" she smiles.

"Ok" I nod. As soon as Brittany is finished, we get Ella sorted and put her back into bed. "Since we're both awake now and the kids are sleeping then do you maybe want to…you know" I smile.

"As much as I want to you know I can't have sex right now" she says regrettably as we leave our bedroom.

"I wasn't talking about sex, I was talking about putting on a movie in the other room and eating popcorn together" I smile.

"In that case, count me in" she smiles back.


	36. Exhausted

Chapter 36: Exhausted

Santana's POV

I've finally just sat down on the couch to rest and I'm exhausted. This is the first time today I've been able to take a break and I'm so thankful I can now get 5 minutes to breathe. Looking after Aiden isn't any hassle because he's a good kid and we do it every day anyway and the same goes for Ella, looking after her is absolutely fine because she's beginning to get used to things now. However, trying to coincide both routines is becoming a major problem. Ella naps a lot more than Aiden so ideally it would be good to put Aiden down for his nap at some point when Ella is sleeping so they're both down at the same time and it gives Brittany and I time to get organised. The only problem is that Aiden doesn't want to nap when Ella is napping because he wants to hang out with one of us because he knows with Ella sleeping he'll get our undivided attention.

I finally managed to persuade Aiden to take a nap 5 minutes ago and Ella is thankfully still sleeping so I'm taking the opportunity to have 5 minutes to myself. I know it won't last long though because Ella is due feeding soon so she'll likely wake up soon. Brittany was upstairs taking a shower so I'm hoping as soon as she's done - which should be about now, and Ella is fed and changed, I can take 10 minutes to shower while Brittany looks after the kids.

"Hey" Brittany says quietly while walking into the living room.

"Hi" I sigh.

"You look exhausted babe" she points out as she sits down next to me.

"I am" I say while rubbing my eyes. "They're both finally sleeping at the same time so I'm trying to rest while I can" I tell her.

"That's good" she smiles. "I think it's my turn to feed Ella once she's awake so you'll have another 5 minutes to yourself then as well" she says.

"Actually I might just take a quick shower now then" I suggest while sitting forward.

"Ok but can you wait a second before you do that" she replies while gently holding my wrist so I won't move any further.

"Um…sure" I shrug. I'm a little confused about what's happening but anyway.

"This is for you" Brittany smiles brightly while taking her hand away from behind her back and handing me a wrapped gift.

"What's this?" I smile back while examining the gift.

"Open it and find out" she replies so I do just that and begin opening the gift.

"Wow…it's taped really well" I chuckle as I struggle to get the paper off it.

"Sorry I had to do it really tightly so Aiden wouldn't get a hold of it and open it" Brittany laughs.

"That's true I suppose" I laugh. Aiden is at a stage at the moment where he's into everything and wants to know everything. If he sees something he hasn't seen before then he wants to touch it or open it. "Finally" I say with a smile as the get the wrapping paper off.

"Yeah" Brittany smiles back.

"Huh…a square black box" I say voicing my thoughts aloud. "This looks suspiciously like a jewellery box or something which is weird because I know it's not my birthday and I'm pretty sure we got married in the month of June and this is November so I know it's not our anniversary so…"

"Baby just open it please" Brittany says interrupting me and kissing me.

"Wait…that means it really is jewellery" I say excitedly while smiling. I have no idea why I'm getting jewellery but I'm not wasting any more time finding out, I'm just going to look inside this thing.

"What do you think?" Brittany asks with a smile as I open the box. Inside happens to be a diamond necklace and not a fake one. It has real diamonds and everything on it so it must have cost her some amount of money.

"Brittany what on earth is this?" I ask softly. I do appreciate it and it's not like I'm mad or anything but what she's given me is very expensive and she really didn't need to do that.

"It's a present to say thank you for putting up with me these last 10 months" she smiles. "Looking back I've realised just how rude I was to you at times and I feel so bad for that because you didn't deserve it."

"Honey you were pregnant so you're hormones were going to make you do some crazy stuff so I really didn't take anything to heart" I assure her.

"Still, I think you deserve something special for how amazing you were" she smiles. "I took a lot of my frustrations out on you and that wasn't fair. I know if you could you would have swapped places with me in a heartbeat which is one of the reasons I love you so much" she states.

"Thank you for this" I smile while leaning over to hug her.

"I love you so much" she smiles as we pull out of the hug.

"I love you too" I smile back. "Hey, come here" I say while gently placing my hand on her neck and guiding her face closer to me so I can kiss her. However just as we lean in to kiss, we hear Ella start crying through the monitor.

"I better go" she laughs while pulling away reluctantly.

"Yeah I should take that quick shower now before Aiden wakes up too" I say while standing up.

"Ok" Brittany smiles.

XXX

Brittany and I are just getting ready for bed. It's still relatively early but we thought we'd get changed into something more comfortable so we could try and relax in bed together watching a movie or something. I've not got high hopes though to do that because I've got a feeling we're going to fall asleep quite quickly after our exhausting day.

"Are you watching me change right now?" Brittany asks turning to look at me.

"Yes I am" I smile brightly. I'm not even going to try and deny it when I'm being so obvious about it "You look so beautiful and I'd be lying if I said I didn't want you so bad right now."

"I look horrible" Brittany blushes.

"Trust me, you don't" I assure her as I walk towards her.

"You would say that because you're just so sweet all the time" she smiles.

"Yes but I'm also not a liar so if I'm saying it it's because you're very sexy" I say as I wrap my arms around her waist and kiss her lips.

"Well thank you" she replies as we pull out of the hold.

"So I'm thinking maybe we should watch the movie on a laptop because I don't want the noise or the lights of the TV to disrupt Ella" I say.

"Yeah I agree" Brittany nods.

"Ok cool" I say while firing up my laptop before getting into bed.

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Brittany has just finished nursing Ella and I've just got Aiden sat down to eat his breakfast. Brittany and I are sort of eating ours as we go along while we do other things. I'm just unloading the dishes from the dishwasher and Brittany is holding Ella in her arms while making a list of stuff we need to get from the grocery store.

"Aiden are you eating?" I ask as I notice him staring off into the distance at Brittany and Ella. "Aiden?" I ask again when he doesn't respond.

"Mom is talking to you sweetheart" Brittany tells him so he turns his head towards me.

"Are you eating your breakfast?" I ask and he shakes his head. "You need to eat Aid so you're nice and strong" I tell him.

"Ella" he replies while pointing to his sister.

"You can play with Ella later, eat your breakfast now though" I tell him. He stares at me for a second contemplating the idea before turning his head again and eating some banana. "That's a good boy" I say while sitting down next to him.

"Good" he smiles at me while clapping his hands.

"Yes you are a good boy" I smile back at him. Once he finishes eating, I let him play with his cars at the table for a little bit. "Hey can I get a kiss please?" I ask him and before he can reply Brittany is leaning over and kissing me. "You do that all the time" I say laughing as Brittany pulls away.

"Are you complaining?" she asks smiling.

"Definitely not" I smile back.

"Good" she smiles.

"So what are our plans for today?" I ask looking at her.

"I was thinking we could leave going to the grocery store until tomorrow and do a little bit of shopping today, what do you think?" Brittany asks.

"I'm cool with that" I smile.

"I was wanting to get a few bits and pieces for going back to work soon" she says. "Also starting some Christmas shopping can't hurt either" she tells me.

"That's true" I nod.

"I need to get some new pants for work because all I have left is maternity clothes or ones that don't fit me any more from before I was pregnant" she replies.

"Now you mention clothes, I was actually thinking about getting some new things myself" I say. "Funnily enough I actually put some delicate items on at the wrong setting on the washing machine the other day and shrunk them so I do want to buy another bra or two."

"Now that is the kind of shopping I like" Brittany smirks.

"Remember the kids are coming babe so you can't exactly be there when I try them on" I point out.

"It doesn't mean I can't follow you around the store when you're looking at them and then get you to perform a little fashion show at night when the kids are asleep" she smiles.

"Now that is a good point" I smile back.

"Ok well I'm going to take Ella upstairs to get ready and then I'll get changed too" she replies. "Shall we just leave whenever we're ready?" she asks.

"Sounds good" I smile. "I'll just tidy up a little in here before getting myself organised" I say.

"Ok" Brittany nods. "Aid why don't you come with your sister and me and let mom finish up in here?" she suggests.

"Yesss" Aiden replies excitedly while trying to get out of his chair.

"Just a second sweetheart" I chuckle while helping him out of his seat. "Don't worry they won't leave you, they'll wait" I tell him as I place him down on the ground.

"Let's go then" Brittany smiles at Aiden while holding her hand out to him. The 3 of them then go upstairs while I finish tidying up before joining them.

XXX

"Did you get any red ones?" Brittany asks curiously as I leave the lingerie store and meet her and the kids outside.

"That's top secret right now but I'll be sure to show you later what I bought" I smirk.

"You have to give me something to look forward to" she states. "You know I think you suit red coloured things so can't you at least just say you bought something red?"

"Ok fine, there are a few red pieces in here but that's all I'm saying" I tell her. I want to surprise her later with most of the things I bought so I don't want to give away too much.

"Ok" she smiles.

"So where to now?" I ask.

"Over here, I've gotten some pants for work from the store over there before so I'm hoping they'll still have the ones I like" Brittany replies as we make our way over to the shop. After picking up a few things, the kids and I follow Brittany over to the changing rooms.

"We'll wait at the seats here ok?" I say while sitting down with the stroller right next to me. I think it would look a little weird if we all follow her right into the area so we'll wait just outside the rooms.

"Ok babe" Brittany smiles before taking her clothes and going into one of the cubicles. Its a few minutes later before she comes out and walks over to us. "Does my butt look too big in these?" she asks standing in front of me.

"No they look fine on you Britt" I tell her.

"What about this shirt, does it fit me ok or does it look too tight in one place and baggy in the other?" she asks.

"No the shirt looks great" I reply. "It doesn't exactly go with the pants but they both look good as separate items" I say.

"Yeah I wouldn't really wear them together but I did like the shirt" she states.

"Yeah it is nice" I smile.

"Ok I'm going to try on the next couple of things" she says while making her way back over to her cubicle. "Oh Santana, watch your bag" she says while pointing to the stroller before disappearing. I quickly look at the stroller and realise Aiden has leant over and picked up one of my shopping bags and is rifling through my stuff.

"Aid that's not yours" I tell him with a slight laugh while taking the bag. He's not even two years old yet and has already tried to buy condoms and is now looking through my bras.

"Toy?" he questions. He was obviously bored and was looking for something to play with in the shopping bags.

"Oh I don't know if mommy will let me buy you a toy today" I reply.

"No mommy won't" Brittany says and I almost jump in fright. I didn't even see her walk back over to us.

"He wants something to play with though babe" I say.

"He brought Santana and a couple of toy cars with him. He really doesn't need anything else at the moment" she states. "If this was a random day then I might have gave in but it's only a few weeks to Christmas so we're not spoiling him with toys when it's so close."

"Ok" I nod. That does actually make sense so I suppose we shouldn't be spoiling him just now.

"So anyway, what do you think of this dress?" Brittany asks.

"I think it looks great although I don't know how much work you'd get done in it" I say honestly.

"No this isn't for work" she replies. "So you think it suits me then?"

"I do, I really do" I smile.

"Ok well I've tried everything on now so as soon as I get changed back into my clothes, we can go" Brittany says.

"Ok cool" I smile.

After spending most of the day shopping, we all go to lunch together before heading home. Ella spent most of the afternoon napping so we played with Aiden for a little bit before he went for his nap and then Brittany and I hung out together before we all had dinner together.

Aiden is in bed now and we've just put Ella down in her own room. She still sleeps in our room but we put her down to sleep in her own room from time to time when we're still awake so she gets used to the room and then she'll stay in our room later. We usually move her when she wakes up for a feeding and when we're about to go to sleep.

Brittany is currently in the bathroom and I'm just sitting on the bed going through some work emails on my laptop but I'm finding it really hard to concentrate since I just accidentally walked in on Brittany in the shower.

"Please go away because Brittany isn't able to take care of you tonight" I say aloud while shaking my head.

"Baby, who are you talking to?" Brittany asks walking out of the bathroom.

"Um…no one" I say really embarrassed.

"It sounded like someone" Brittany smiles.

"Ok fine" I sigh. "I was talking to myself because I forgot you were in the shower so I walked in to get my night cream and I saw you naked. You looked so sexy and I might have stayed staring at you for too long because I got a major hard-on" I admit embarrassed. "The only thing is I don't know how to get rid of it now."

"I'll do it" Brittany shrugs and before I can say anything else she is on the bed. She has my boxers at my ankles and she's got her lips wrapped around me.

"Shit…" I moan in pleasure.

"Don't be ashamed about it, just ask next time" she smiles up at me. I know I seem like an idiot getting embarrassed about things like this considering Britt is my wife and everything but I really don't want to do anything to upset her. She had been up and down the whole pregnancy that I don't want to catch her on an off day and make her feel like she has to have sex with me. I don't want to come across pressurising, I want to be supportive.

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It's Brittany's first day back at work today so I got the kids up and took them downstairs so Brittany can just focus on going back to work and doesn't need to worry about getting the kids ready. I'm just making Aiden some breakfast at the moment.

"Morning" Brittany smiles while walking into the kitchen.

"Morning" I smile back.

"Do you need me to do anything before I get changed?" she asks.

"All you really need to do is feed Ella and have something to eat yourself" I tell her.

"Ok well I'll feed Ella just now and then I'll have something to eat" she replies.

"I could make you something to eat if you want because I'm making Aiden breakfast just now anyway" I say.

"Ok" Brittany smiles before beginning to nurse Ella. As soon as she's done and we've all had breakfast, Brittany goes upstairs to get ready and I look after the kids. "How do I look?" she asks looking down at herself as she walks back into the kitchen.

"Beautiful" I smile.

"This shirt doesn't look too tight on me does it?" she asks.

"Not at all" I tell her honestly.

"Ok well I better be going soon then" she says. "So Ella is fed and I've prepared enough bottles for you today. I've left Aiden's rash cream in the downstairs bathroom so I would put some more on him just after lunch and that's about it" she says and I nod.

"Ok" I smile.

"Ok mommy has to go to work now but I love you both" she says while kissing Aiden's head and then Ella's.

"Wish me luck" she says while walking over to me.

"Good luck on your first day back" I smile.

"Love you" she says while kissing my cheek.

"Love you too" I smile.

"See you later" she replies before rushing out the door.

"Just the 3 of us now" I smile to the kids. Aiden claps his hands excitedly and Ella just looks at me like I said something nonsensical. "Do you want to go to the park today or we could go and see gran and Grandpa Lopez?" I ask.

"Grandpa" Aiden replies clapping his hands together again. As soon as we're all ready, we head to my parents' house. Once we get there, Aiden runs straight for my dad while I go to the kitchen with Ella and my mom.

"So how are my grandchildren?" my mom asks while taking Ella from my arms as I make us some coffee.

"They're noisy and your grandson is very energetic" I laugh.

"A little bit like his mom then" my mom laughs.

"No there is no way I had this much energy at Aiden's age" I shake my head.

"I can guarantee you did Santana. You had me exhausted all the time and then when you're siblings came along you got even more energy. I secretly think it was a way to get my attention because you were the only child until you were 2 and a half years old" my mom replies.

"What kind of things did I do?" I ask interested.

"You used to run around the house all the time looking in drawers and closets to see what you could find. You would look through my purse and then start drawing on the walls with my lipstick. Don't even get my started on bath time" my mom laughs while shaking her head.

"What did I do at bath time?" I ask.

"It took us about half an hour to finally get you in the bath because all you wanted to do was run around the house naked. One time you made it outside and your dad had to chase you down the street" my mom says.

"No you're making up that last part" I state. There is no way I would run down the street at 2 years old while naked.

"I'm really not sweetheart" my mom shakes her head. "Do you not remember we took away your favourite teddy bear for a week and you had to have the other one with you in bed at night?"

"Wait that's why I had that ugly ass panda?" I say just remembering.

"Yeah because we had to do something to make you stop. What kind of parents would we be letting our little girl run around outside naked?" my mom shrugs.

"Yeah I don't blame you" I say shaking my head at the thought. If I thought Aiden was bad then he clearly isn't compared to me. What on earth would possess me to run outside naked?

"So anyway, the kids are keeping you on your toes then?" my mom says.

"They are but I think I secretly like it. It's hard with 2 little ones but honestly I can't picture myself at work right now. What I'm doing feels right and like what I'm supposed to do" I say honestly.

"So it's Brittany's first day back at work, was she nervous?" my mom asks.

"No I think she was really looking forward to it actually" I say. "Did you find it hard to go back to work after each child?" I ask.

"I mean I missed you all but I felt better when I went back to work because it allowed me to feel like me but still have a family. Everyone is different really but it doesn't mean you're any less of a parent when you go back to work" my mom states.

"Yeah I mean Britt was feeling slightly bad last night but the situation we've got seems to be working and the kids don't mind either" I say. I know this is just Brittany's first day back but we've had days recently where I've stayed home while Brittany has had to do other things and honestly it works for us so I like it.

"It's not like she works miles away either so she'll see the kids before work and she's home by 5pm every night and there are weekends too" my mom says.

"Yeah I know and everything seems good just now but I just hope it doesn't backfire on us. I just worry sometimes that Brittany is doing too well if that makes sense" I say honestly. There has been no issues whatsoever since Ella was born which is a major contrast to after Aiden so I just hope it really is that good and Brittany isn't bottling anything up.

"Santana don't stress out over something that isn't there. Just be happy that we're all happy for once. I honestly can't see an issue with Brittany because you know all the signs now so I generally think everything is ok now" my mom assures me.

"Yeah you're right, I'm just letting my own demons get in the way of things" I say shaking my head trying to get rid of the thought. I have a terrible habit of fearing the worse when I don't need to think like that. All I ever wanted to be was happy and I am happy so I should be satisfied with that.

"Oh I think Ella needs another feeding now" my mom points out as Ella begins wakening up.

"Can you just keep a hold of her until I warm up her bottle" I ask my mom.

"Of course" my mom smiles.

"Actually why don't you give Ella her bottle" I suggest. Since Brittany is still breastfeeding then it's only ever been Brittany or I whenever Brittany prepares some bottles that can feed Ella so it might be nice for my mom to feed her granddaughter for the first time.

"Ok" my mom says excitedly. As soon as the bottle is ready, my mom begins feeding Ella.

"Oh-oh, I hear a little monster coming" I smile as Aiden bounds into the room and jumps up on my lap. "What were you doing with Grandpa?" I ask him.

"Play" Aiden sighs while wrapping his arms around my neck and leaning his head against me.

"Someone is tired" I point out.

"No" Aiden states but his eyes are almost closing.

"As soon as your sister has finished her bottle, we're going for a nap" I tell him.

"Why don't you put him down for a nap here and then you can all have lunch with us later" my dad suggests.

"I don't want to annoy you both when you've got a day off together" I say.

"Your dad is right, you should stay and have lunch with us" my mom says. "Just because Brittany is back at work doesn't mean you need to start today with being home alone with the kids. Stay here for a while and ease into things."

"You don't mind?" I ask.

"Of course we don't, the best thing about having kids is getting grandchildren so we want to spend as much time as possible with our grandchildren" my dad states.

"I kinda like to think you did enjoy me though" I state.

"You were ok, not a phenomenal child but ok" my dad shrugs. I know he's only teasing me though.

XXX

After spending most of the day with my parents, the kids and I head home in time for Brittany getting back. I decided to make a start on dinner so that Brittany can just relax when she gets home.

"Aiden what are you doing sweetheart?" I ask as I notice him leaning over the bassinet that Ella is lying in. I do trust my son but he is a one year old and is very interested in things.

"Ella" he says while laughing. As I walk over to them I notice he has a gentle hold of her hand and she's smiling up at him.

"Hi, I'm home" we hear Brittany shout from the hall. Aiden takes off without a second thought.

"I guess we're not as popular as mommy tonight" I smile down at Ella before picking her up. I then make my way through to the hall where I see Aiden in Brittany's arms hugging her tightly.

"Hey" I smile as I walk closer to Brittany.

"Hi baby" Brittany smiles back while leaning towards me. Before our lips can even graze, Aiden pops his head between us.

"I'll kiss you later" Brittany laughs.

"I'll hold you to it" I smile. "So how was work?" I ask interested.

"Amazing Santana, honestly it was like just yesterday I was last there" she smiles.

"That's good" I say happy that she's happy.

"Don't get me wrong though, I wanted to be here with the 3 of you because that's just the best feeling ever" she says. "Generally though it was good to get back to some kind of normalcy after that tough pregnancy."

* * *

Brittany's POV

I've been back at work for a couple of days now and it's like I never even left. I've slipped right back into place perfectly and everything seems to be how it was before I went on maternity leave. The only difference between now and the last time I was here is that I can do a lot more hands on things now since I'm no longer pregnant so there aren't any restrictions on the kind of therapies I am working on. Before I could only take the more simplistic cases but now I'm right back to treating all patients with varying abilities.

I'm just about to meet a woman called Hannah who recently had surgery on her back. This will be her 5th physiotherapy session but it'll be the 1st one with me. Even though it was considered a major surgery, there wasn't any paralysis involved and it wasn't as severe as some back surgeries could be.

"Hi Hannah, I'm Brittany" I smile while shaking the woman's hand when she walks into the room.

"Nice to meet you" Hannah smiles.

"Why don't we sit down for a minute and then we'll get started once we've talked for a little bit" I suggest.

"Ok" Hannah smiles and then we sit down at my desk.

"So it seems that you're progressing very well and you've just had an appointment with your doctor who thinks you're recovering well too" I say.

"That's right" Hannah nods.

"Today we're just tackling your movement and I'm going to show you some ways to strengthen the muscles a little bit" I say. "Ok so if you just want to move over there where there is a bit more space for us" I say while walking over to the other end of the room.

"Ok" Hannah nods while following me over. We then get started on the physiotherapy. "So I've not seen you around before, are you new here?" she asks.

"No I've been working here for about a year and 4 months now" I smile.

"I just haven't seen you before and this is my 5th week of physiotherapy" she states.

"Well I am just back this week from having a baby so that's maybe why" I point out.

"I see, well congratulations" Hannah smiles.

"Thank you" I smile back.

"So how old is your baby?" she asks

"She'll be 7 weeks old this weekend" I say smiling just thinking about Ella.

"Wow you must be a supermom then" Hannah smiles. "I was certainly not back at work after 7 weeks with my 3 kids and I didn't look like that either. Did you starve yourself the whole 9 months" she jokes.

"Uh…" I really don't know what to say. The woman obviously doesn't know my history so she's just joking but it is a little bit of a sore point for me.

"You look young so you've probably just got a good metabolism or something" she smiles. "I mean what are you, about early twenties or something?"

"Yeah I'm 23" I smile back.

"So are you coping ok with a new-born?" she asks.

"As well as I can" I chuckle. "It's not easy but we're getting there and honestly I wouldn't have it any other way."

"It must be a bit different for you though with a new baby" she says.

"I mean it is but I love being a mom anyway so it's good" I nod.

"It's a weird feeling but a good one though being a mom for the first time, isn't it?" Hannah asks.

"This isn't my first child, I also have a son" I point out.

"Oh" Hannah says slightly shocked. "Sorry I just assumed it was your first because you're young but you have another child."

"Yeah he turns two in January" I smile. I've been getting that a lot lately but I don't take any offence to it. I mean it is a lot to handle having two kids when I'm still 23 but at the same time a lot of people have a few kids when they're still in their early twenties. Ideally this wasn't my plan because I didn't know where my life would be at but now I really wouldn't want it to change. I love being married to Santana and I love our children.

"So you're only 23 and you have two kids and still managed to get a decent career" she points out.

"I mean it wasn't easy and I don't think I could have done it without anyone else but my wife. She's been so amazing through everything and she even wanted to stay at home with the kids while I went back to work" I reply.

"She's definitely a keeper then" Hannah smiles.

"She definitely is" I smile just thinking of how amazing Santana is.

"I had to quit college because I got pregnant and then I had to wait a few years before I could finish my degree because I had no one to look after the kids because my husband was working fulltime" she tells me.

"I'm thankful I didn't have to but the pressure I put myself under in my last year when I was pregnant was ridiculous. I ended up with an eating disorder and everything" I state. I know I probably shouldn't divulge this much to a patient because it's probably not deemed professional but it's nice to actually hear how other mothers got through things.

"Oh wow…I'm really sorry for my joke earlier" Hannah says apologetically.

"Don't be silly, it's fine" I wave it off. "I'm all good now and I feel so much better this time around after the pregnancy" I say honestly.

"So is your wife a fulltime mom then?" she asks.

"No she's a lawyer but she's taking a little longer time off than me to stay home with the kids" I reply. "She's still doing cases here and there if they're doable to work from home but when Ella is a little older then she'll go to childcare with her brother and my wife can go back to work."

"Oh I see" Hannah nods.

"We're just fortunate to know someone who works in childcare so they'll go to her. My nephew actually goes too so it's nice they can all have each other as well" I smile.

"That's good" she smiles. "Anyway I'll let you get back to work because you'll be thinking I'm a nosy woman asking you all these questions."

"Don't be silly I like getting to talk to my patients" I smile back. "So how old are your kids?" I ask.

"They're all boys and they're 21, 22 and 24 years old" she replies.

XXX

I've just arrived outside the house and parked up. It's been really good getting back into work recently but there's no denying just how much I've missed Santana and the kids. There isn't a better feeling than arriving home to them and getting to spend some time with them.

When I walk into the house, the whole place is silent. As I quietly walk into the living room, I notice Ella fast asleep in her bassinet and Aiden is lightly snoring on the couch curled up next to Santana who is also sleeping. He has his head rested on her stomach and his arm lightly around her as she also has her arm over him. I quietly kneel down at the side of the couch and lean forward to Santana's ear where I make a buzzing noise.

"Shit" Santana mutters while jolting upright causing Aiden to startle awake. I really can't help but laugh at her reaction.

"M-mom…?" Aiden asks confused.

"Mom just got a fright, don't worry" Santana says while kissing Aiden's head to reassure him before looking at me.

"Hi baby" I smirk.

"Was that you?" she asks and I just make another buzzing noise in response. "That's not funny, I literally thought there was a bee or something at me" she frowns.

"You're so cute" I smile and lean in to kiss her.

"I would say the same about you but that wasn't cute, that was mean Britt" she pouts. "You know how much I hate bees."

"I'm sorry" I smile before leaning in to kiss her.

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"You're in a very chipper mood this afternoon" Martin points out as we sit and go over a case together. "Glad it's finally Friday and you've got the weekend off?" he asks.

"Yeah I mean there is that but there's also something else I'm looking forward to" I grin. I seriously cannot keep this smile off my face. "My parents are having both kids tonight and keeping them until tomorrow so it's going to be just Santana and me alone."

"Some quality time together then?" he replies.

"Yeah and not only that but I had my check up with my doctor the other day and she's given me the all clear so I can finally have sex with my wife again" I state. "Tonight is the perfect opportunity to have some couples time together so I'm going to make sure we do."

"That's a little more than I needed to know" Martin laughs nervously.

"Sorry, I'm just so excited" I apologise.

"It's fine" he smiles.

"So are you leaving early today?" he asks.

"No but I've got some help in keeping Santana away from the house so I can make things romantic" I reply. I've managed to get Santana's sister to keep her occupied until I've made dinner and everything. They're taking the kids out for the day and then Santana will drop Aiden and Ella off at my parents' house and then come home. Ideally she won't arrive home until I'm all prepared but there's only so much stalling Eva can do especially when they're hanging out with 3 kinds under the age of 2 so I'm just crossing my fingers it'll work out.

"I see" Martin nods in understanding.

"So what about you? What are your plans for tonight?" I ask.

"Not much really. I think we're just ordering takeout and watching a movie" he replies.

"You should go out and have some fun. I mean not that staying in isn't fun because I love having Santana all to myself in bed all day if I can but sometimes it's nice to get dressed up and go to a bar or two" I say.

"Well we prefer the quieter nights at the moment" he says. "This is between you and me ok, but Ashley is pregnant" he smiles.

"Congratulations" I say while hugging him.

"We're not as overjoyed as we could be since what happened last time but as soon as we get the first scan done then we can relax a little more and enjoy the pregnancy" Martin says.

"I wish you and Ashley all the best anyway" I smile.

"Thank you" he smiles back.

XXX

As soon as I got home, I made a few preparations for dinner before heading upstairs to take a shower. I'm going all out tonight making sure every inch of me is super clean and moisturised. I mean don't get me wrong, it's not like I go around without showering or something, I just mean I am taking extra care and attention tonight to make sure we have the most perfect evening together. I've finally got rid of the pregnancy weight and I'm satisfied with how my body looks so I want to just go the extra mile to make sure Santana likes it too.

Once I'm finished in the shower, I do my hair and makeup and then get changed into one of my favourite dresses. I light a few candles in the bedroom and throw some rose petals across the floor to make the room look romantic for later. As soon as I'm satisfied with how I look and how romantic the room looks, I make my way downstairs to take care of dinner. I'm just cooking the vegetables when I hear a key in the door so I know it must be Santana getting home.

"Britt, you've put the chain on in the door so I can't get in babe" I hear her say through the tiny area of where the door is open. The reason I put the chain on is because I didn't want her to enter the house without me knowing and spoil my surprise.

"Ok I'm coming" I say while wiping my hands on a towel and then making my way through to the door.

"I wish I was but I'm not fully there yet" she smirks as I open the door.

"Obviously I wasn't coming like that but whatever" I smile at her as she walks inside.

"Wow Britt, you look…beautiful" she says while taking in my appearance for the first time tonight.

"Thanks" I say blushing slightly. I've suddenly just gone all nervous for a second. "So um…dinner is not quite ready yet but why don't you come to the kitchen with me and keep me company until I'm done" I suggest.

"Sounds good but let me just quickly use the bathroom first" she smiles and I nod. "I won't be a second" she says while going to the bathroom and I go back to the kitchen. As soon as she is finished, she joins me in the kitchen.

"Hey" I smile at her as she walks over to me.

"I just noticed the dining room table all set up, do I sense a little romantic night for the two of us?" she asks.

"That's correct" I smile.

"You could have told me babe and I would have helped with the preparations because you must be exhausted from work today" she replies.

"I wanted it to be a surprise and I wanted to treat you tonight" I tell her.

"Well dinner smells good so I'm looking forward to it" she says before kissing my cheek. "Now that I know, can I do anything to help?" she asks.

"Not really, I'm just about to plate up the food in a minute" I say.

"Ok well at least let me get us something to drink with dinner" she says while walking over to the fridge. "I think we have some sparkling flavoured water somewhere we could have and pretend it's sparkling champagne" she smiles.

"Feel free to have some alcohol babe, you don't need to have what I'm having just because I can't drink at the moment" I tell her honestly.

"No sparking water is good for me" she smiles while grabbing some glasses for us. As soon as the food is finished, I plate it up and take it to the dining room while Santana takes our drinks through. We then sit down together and begin eating.

"I love the necklace by the way" I smirk as I notice the necklace she's wearing.

"Thank you" she smiles. "It was a present from my wife."

"She has good taste" I smirk again.

"She really does hence the reason she picked to be with me" she jokes.

"I love you" I say softly while taking her hand and giving her a gentle smile.

"I love you too babe" she smiles while squeezing my hand.

"This is nice isn't it?" I say looking at Santana as we eat.

"Yeah it is but…I don't know…" she says hesitantly.

"You miss the kids so you're finding it weird?" I ask.

"I mean I do generally miss them but that's not what I was going to say" she replies.

"Ok so what?" I ask.

"I kinda feel like one night isn't enough. We live together but I feel like I've missed you more than I ever have recently. We've been so busy with the kids or work that I haven't really had you all to myself in a while" she admits.

"I must say I do feel the same" I nod in agreement. Obviously I love my children dearly but I'm still human and I do need time with my wife.

"I'm sure we'll figure ways out eventually about how to get more time together. We just need to get into a good stable routine first with the kids" she points out.

"Yeah, exactly" I smile.

"So how was your day today?" Santana asks.

"It was good but I was quite unsettled because I was too excited about tonight" I admit.

"I didn't know we were having a romantic night tonight but I was excited in general to just spend some quality time together so I know what you mean" she smiles.

"Did you have fun day though with your sister and the kids?" I ask.

"Yeah we did and I actually think my mom was right the other day. Aiden really is a lot like me as a child" she says. ""When I was visiting her she was telling me what I used to be like as a kid and she said I used to be as wild as Aiden."

"Oh really" I smile. "Do elaborate."

"One time before I took a bath, I was getting undressed and then ran outside naked. Apparently my dad had to chase me down the street because I just wouldn't come back inside" she laughs.

"Oh my god, I wish I could have seen that" I say laughing too. Just thinking about it seems so cute. "I assume there is no way to recreate the scene?" I smirk.

"I'm sorry but no" Santana smiles. "I know I say I would do anything for you and I really would but somehow I don't think you're too serious about this" she says hopefully.

"Yeah don't worry" I smile. "I still want to see you naked in general though" I smirk.

"Somehow I think you might just do that really soon" she smirks back.

"Is that a promise?" I ask.

"Yes it definitely is" she says leaning over to kiss me. "First though, I really want to finish this food because it is just amazing babe, honestly."

"Not to toot my own horn but I am enjoying the food myself" I say honestly. "I think this is only the second or maybe third time I've made this dish so it was a bit of a risk because I didn't know if I'd pull it off but it is kinda good."

XXX

Once we finished dinner, I cleared up and then we sat down together and just talked for a little bit. I wanted us to let our food digest first before we did anything else because it was quite a filling meal we ate.

"Do you want to go upstairs?" I ask while turning to look at Santana.

"Yeah" she smiles while placing her glass on the table. I hold out my hand which she gladly accepts and then we make our way upstairs. "Wow, it's romantic in here" she smiles while walking into the room.

"I'm just so glad the place never caught on fire with the amount of time the candles were left unattended" I laugh. "These candles have been lit for a while and I have been downstairs most of the night."

"Well luckily the room is ok" Santana smiles while wrapping her arms around my neck.

"Yeah" I smile while placing my hands on her hips. "It's so weird but I feel like we can't even do this anymore and just stare into each other's eyes for a moment."

"I know but we should focus on how we can right now and enjoy the moment" she smiles before closing the gap between us and then kisses me. We start off kissing really slow before picking up the pace a little as we move closer to the bed. I gently remove her shirt before she unzips my dress at the top and takes it off me.

"This is about you tonight" I tell her while letting her crawl onto the bed before I lie down, hovering above her.

"Ok" she smiles. We kiss for a moment before I pull back to remove her skirt to leave us in just our underwear.

"Someone is looking very sexy tonight" I smile as I notice not one single hair on her body. We certainly don't get complacent in our marriage but there's something nice about how much effort we've both put in tonight to make sure we're looking 100% fantastic. I always make sure I look good as does Santana but tonight we've both went the extra mile.

"I didn't want to be presumptuous but I figured with the good feedback from the doctor and the fact your parents were taking the kids then I thought we might do something special tonight" she says as she wraps one leg around me and pulls me closer.

"Well you thought right" I smile as I feel her smooth, perfectly moisturised skin against mine. I start off just slowly kissing her before picking up the pace slightly. I begin kissing down her neck and across her collarbone before making my way down her body slowly.

After a few minutes I realise Santana has been quiet for some time now which is weird because we've got the house to ourselves so we can be as loud as we want. After moving back up her body and placing one last kiss to her collarbone, I look up at her and realise she is fast asleep. I can't help chuckling slightly at this. Yes I wanted us to have a special night but I'm really not mad right now. I know she has been super exhausted lately looking after the kids so I'm just going to let her sleep and maybe we can spend some of the morning together tomorrow before the kids come home.

I press a gentle kiss to her forehead before quietly getting out of bed and blowing out the candles. I quickly check downstairs to make sure everything is ok before returning to bed and snuggling close into Santana.

"Goodnight" I whisper while kissing her and wrapping my arms around her. She doesn't verbally respond but moves slightly and holds onto me tightly.


	37. Old Friends

Chapter 37: Old Friends

Santana's POV

I've just woke up from an amazingly good sleep. It took me a second to register how I slept so good until I remembered the kids are with Brittany's parents so I haven't had to get up numerous times in the night to feed or change Ella. Even though I feel so refreshed, my good mood quickly disappeared after I took one look at how Brittany and I were dressed. We are still somewhat dressed, in underwear only, which can only mean we didn't have sex last night and I've got a terrible feeling it's my fault.

I lie awake quietly for a few minutes until I hear Brittany beginning to wake up. I turn to lie on my side so I'm facing her.

"Morning" Brittany smiles while rubbing her eyes slightly to become more awake. I don't say anything initially, I just lean in and kiss her. "What's that for?" she asks happily.

"I am so sorry about last night" I say apologetically.

"Last night?" she questions confused.

"Didn't I fall asleep right as we were going to have sex?" I ask.

"Oh right that" she says in realisation. "Look don't worry about it, I'm really not bothered" she smiles genuinely.

"You're not?" I ask slightly taken aback.

"I know how much energy the kids have took from you and you were exhausted yesterday so not getting to have sex wasn't a big deal" she smiles. "Don't get me wrong, I love it but I know you needed your sleep more last night so everything is good."

"Ok" I nod.

"Like you said last night, once we fully get into a good routine then we'll work out us a bit more and how we can spend more time together" she says.

"If it helps, I do have some time right now and I am feeling very refreshed" I say while moving to hover above Brittany.

"Uh…as much as I really want to, I kinda have to use the bathroom right now" Brittany says regrettably.

"That's cool. Just use the bathroom and come back to me" I smile.

"I'll be 2 minutes and no more, I promise" she smiles before jumping out of bed and running over to the bathroom. She keeps her promise because she is back in bed after one minute and 50 seconds.

"So…" I smirk while leaning over her and kissing her.

"Yes" she smirks at me.

"I mentioned I had a little time right now didn't I?" I smile down at her.

"You certainly did" Brittany nods. "And you said you were feeling very refreshed" she adds while reaching up to place her hands on my hips.

"That's right" I nod. "How do you feel this morning?" I ask her.

"Very deprived I would say" she smirks.

"Deprived of what baby?" I ask while leaning down to kiss her except I pull away at the last second to tease her.

"Sex" she shrugs.

"Well we can't have that can we?" I smile and she shakes her head. "What Brittany wants Brittany can get" I say before finally kissing her.

"I like the sound of that" she says while moving her hands to caress my back slightly.

XXX

"Hey why don't we get some breakfast and maybe if we have time after, you can show me how well you handle me in the shower" she smirks.

"Sounds like a plan" I smile while getting out of bed. We quickly put some clothes on and make our way downstairs to the kitchen.

"What will I make us to eat?" she asks.

"I'll make us something because you cooked dinner last night" I tell her.

"Ok" she nods with a smile. I then begin getting some things out of the fridge to make breakfast. Just as I'm cracking some eggs, I hear Brittany come up behind me and wrap her arms around me.

"Are you trying to distract me?" I tease.

"Yeah and I plan on making it as hard as possible for you to cook" she replies while beginning to kiss the side of my neck.

"This isn't fair babe" I pout. "You know I can't resist you but at the same time I need food to give me energy for later so we kinda have to eat" I tell her.

"Later?" she questions intrigued. "What is happening later?"

"You and I have a shower date remember" I smirk.

"I am so thankful you said that and weren't talking about the kids coming home" she laughs. "For a split second I thought you were being serious but I am so glad you were being flirtatious."

"Yeah I love my little babies but this is sexy time for us so no mention of children until a lot later in the day, ok?" I say.

"Agreed" she smiles.

As soon as we finished breakfast, we made our way upstairs and showered together. We then got ready for the day before hanging out together for a little bit. Brittany's parents have just brought Aiden and Ella home now so we're just catching up with them in the living room before they leave again.

"Did you have fun?" I ask Aiden but he just shakes his head no.

"Why didn't you have fun?" I ask him while wrapping my arms around him. He doesn't verbally reply, he just glares at Brittany's dad and shakes his head.

"He wandered out onto the street when we putting Ella into the car so we got a bit of a fright and I gave him a telling off" James replies.

"Aiden you don't wander off no matter who is looking after you, ok?" I tell him. He stares at me for a moment before beginning to laugh. "This isn't funny, are you listening to me?" I ask but he just laughs again.

"Aiden Lopez listen to your mom right now" Brittany says seriously and he immediately stops laughing.

"Seriously what's with this thing about not taking me seriously" I ask Brittany. It's starting to annoy me a little now.

"It's probably to do with the fact you have chocolate all over your lips so he can't really take you seriously like that" Brittany reasons.

"Wait, what?" I frown while frantically trying to wipe my face with my hand.

"It's been there for a while now but I thought it would be funny not to tell you" Brittany laughs.

"That's not nice Britt, what if I was going out today or something?" I ask.

"Don't worry I wouldn't have let you go outside like that" she assures me.

"Good" I smile.

"So apart from Aiden being naughty, did you manage ok with them?" Brittany asks her parents.

"Of course we did, they were a breeze compared to what you and your siblings were like as toddlers" James smiles.

"I find that hard to believe, I'm pretty sure I was very well behaved" Brittany states.

"For your mom maybe but not always for me" James replies.

"This is getting interesting, what was Brittany like as a child?" I ask curiously.

"She had a terrible habit or running away and hiding all the time so we often found ourselves stressing out about where she had gone" James replies. "One time she tricked us by opening the front door but then running upstairs to hide so we were frantically looking outside for her since we assumed that's where she went since the door was open. Her mom was almost in tears because she thought she could have got knocked down or anything."

"Oh really" I say surprised.

"He's making it sound worse than it really is. Most of the time I would hide and come straight back out after a few seconds. It's not like I was hidden for half an hour or something" Brittany states.

"Actually you did hide from us for an hour one day Brittany" Karen points out.

"An hour? I don't think so" Brittany shakes her head.

"I promise you it was an hour" Karen states.

"Whatever you say" Brittany says still not believing it.

After a while Brittany's parents left and we were back to being the 4 of us again. It was nice having Britt all to myself last night but it's also nice having the kids back because I missed them. Aiden has just woke up now from a nap but Ella is still sleeping so Brittany and I thought it might be nice to put our Christmas decorations up and let Aiden help us.

"Aiden that's enough baubles buddy" Brittany says noticing Aiden taking more baubles out of the box.

"You can however help mom with the tinsel" I tell him.

"Ok" he says excitedly while grabbing some tinsel and running around with it. He then runs over to Brittany and puts some on her and then runs over to me and wraps some around my neck.

"Wow aren't we fancy now" I smile at him.

"Ella?" he questions.

"She is sleeping right now but how about we put a little tinsel to the side and show her it later" Brittany suggests so Aiden nods.

"Britt, honey can you help me?" I ask while struggling to reach the top of the tree to put the star on it. "I'm just a little short so maybe you could do it since your arms are longer" I tell her.

"No need for me to do it" she smiles while lifting me up.

"Ok" I laugh surprised but nevertheless putting the star on the tree. "Oh careful with the hand placement Pierce, young children present remember" I smirk.

"I don't know what you're talking about" she shrugs.

"I'm talking about your hand squeezing my butt" I smile at her as she puts me on the ground again.

"Oh was I doing that, I'm sorry I hadn't even realised" she states.

"Yeah-yeah, whatever you say" I reply not believing her. I've been with Brittany long enough to know when she's deliberately copping a feel of my butt.

"Anyway let's continue with this" Brittany smiles and I nod.

"Hey do you know I was just thinking earlier about how lucky your parents were" I say while hanging up our stockings.

"What do you mean?" Brittany asks confused.

"Sometimes I just wish you would hide from me for an hour so I could get some peace" I tease.

"Oh is that so?" Brittany smirks and I nod. "How about I hide from you for an hour next Saturday when your parents are taking the kids overnight and we're meant to be home alone?"

"Yeah my joke just backfired didn't it?" I sigh.

"Yes it did baby" Brittany smiles before leaning in to kiss me. Just as I go to kiss her back, I hear Ella crying through the monitor.

"Our daughter has perfect timing" I laugh.

"I'll go because I think she's probably needing fed now" Brittany says.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Thursday 9th December 2021

"Hi" Brittany smiles walking into the kitchen with a large bouquet of flowers in her hands.

"Oh nice flowers, who did you get them from?" I ask assuming it was from someone at work since that's where she's been all day.

"They're not mine, they're yours" she smiles. "I love you" she says while handing me the flowers.

"Are these from you?" I ask surprised.

"Yeah" she smiles.

"You're not trying to butter me up because you did something wrong are you?" I tease.

"Of course not" she shakes her head. "I just really wanted to try and be romantic for a change" she smiles while shrugging slightly.

"Well they're beautiful so thank you" I smile while leaning over to kiss her cheek.

"Is that it?" she teases. "I get you the most beautiful roses ever and all I get is a lousy kiss on the cheek?"

"I'm sorry" I laugh before leaning over again but to kiss her properly this time.

"Much better" she smiles. "So where are my little angels?" she asks.

"If you mean devils then they're actually napping right now" I reply.

"What have they been up to?" Brittany laughs.

"Ella wouldn't stop crying no matter what I tried to do to help and Aiden just ran around all day. In fact this is the first time he has napped" I say shaking my head.

"Oh dear" Brittany says sympathetically.

"I even took them to the park to wear them out a bit but I did nothing for either of them" I state.

"Hopefully they will sleep tonight then" Brittany replies.

"Hopefully they will" I nod.

"So how has the rest of your day been?" she asks while taking her jacket off and helping me prepare dinner.

"Apart from the noisy children, not too bad" I say. "I did actually run into someone at the park so I've invited them over for dinner tomorrow night, I hope that's ok" I tell her.

"Of course" Brittany smiles. "Who is it?"

"A girl I used to go to college with" I reply.

"Oh" Brittany nods suspiciously.

"Her husband and her 2 sons will be there too" I laugh. "Don't worry she is not an ex or anything like that" I smile.

"Ok good" Brittany breathes a sigh of relief.

XXX

"Mommy…look" Aiden says sprinting into the room to see Brittany.

"Is that mom's Santa hat?" she asks and Aiden nods. "Something gives me the feeling you two are up to no good" she says raising an eyebrow at me.

"We were just looking at some Christmas things from last year in the spare bedroom and we came across the hat" I say with a shrug.

"Why were you randomly looking through last year's Christmas things?" she asks.

"Because I was sure that's where Aiden's little Santa outfit is" I state.

"Babe he has grew a lot in the last 12 months so there's no way it would fit him now" she replies.

"Yeah but it might fit Ella" I smile.

"Please don't bring our innocent little daughter into you and Aiden's shenanigans" she states. "Aiden is a little mini you and I've accepted the fact he'll likely get up to mischief like you do but please let Ella be a little more like me" she smiles.

"It's just a Santa outfit babe" I shrug.

"I know but one outfit turns into two and then 3 and before we know it she is dressed up every single holiday there is" she states. "As soon as you start dressing her up she'll get used to it and then want to do everything you and Aiden do."

"Is that such a crime?" I ask.

"Ella is my perfect little girl so I don't want her turning into you two and giving me three kids to look after. I've got enough on my plate with you and Aiden" she smirks.

"You really think I'm like one of the kids?" I ask.

"Sometimes" she shrugs.

"Ok well judge just how childish I am tonight, in bed, naked" I smirk.

"Santana!" Brittany exclaims surprised while laughing.

"What?" I ask with a shrug.

"Aiden knows what that means" she states.

"He knows the word naked but he does not know what I'm implying so relax babe" I smile.

"Ok" she smiles back. "Actually as I remember, one night near Christmas a few years ago you wore nothing but that Santa hat" she smirks.

"Well maybe when the kids are in bed tonight, I'll create that night" I tell her.

"Now that is what I call a capital idea" she winks.

"Ok" I smile while leaning over to kiss her.

* * *

Brittany's POV

Friday 10th December 2021

Santana and I are preparing dinner for her friend to come over with her family. I don't know too much about them but their names are Christina and Russell and they have two sons called Dylan and Charlie. Santana went to college with Christina but half way through the year she moved away because Russell was transferring colleges so she followed him and finished her law degree at a college nearer Russell.

As soon as the door rings, Santana goes and opens it while I stay with the kids in the living room. Santana then takes their coats and brings them into the room to introduce everyone.

"This is Russell and Christina" Santana says introducing them. "And this is my wife Brittany" she says turning to them before we all shake hands.

"Nice to meet you" Christina smiles.

"You too" I smile back. "This is Aiden and Ella by the way who you probably met yesterday" I say and she nods.

"This is Dylan our oldest" Christina smiles. When Santana said they had 2 sons I assumed 2 toddlers or something, not one of them being a 16 year old.

"Nice to meet you" I smile.

"You too" Dylan smiles.

"And this is Charlie" Christina tells us.

"I'm 4" Charlie smiles while holding 4 fingers in the air.

"Oh wow" I smile at him.

"Why don't you all take a seat and I'll get everyone some drinks" Santana suggests. As soon as she serves them something, we both check on dinner before I join them again and Santana starts plating up the food. We all then sit down together in the dining room and begin chatting as we eat.

"Mommy…no" Aiden says while waving a carrot in front of my face.

"Honey you need to eat your carrots because they help you see in the dark" I tell him.

"And they taste amazing" Santana smiles at him.

"I actually find carrots rather bland" Russell points out.

"Dad I think they're trying…" Dylan tries to talk but his dad cuts in.

"It's one vegetable we very rarely eat at home so I don't blame the boy for not liking them" Russell says. I mean carrots maybe aren't the tastiest but I'm trying to get my son to eat healthy.

"Well I like them" Dylan shrugs while eating a carrot. Aiden stares at him for a second before deciding to eat his.

"You must have the magic touch Dylan" Santana smiles at him.

"I don't know about that because Charlie still refuses to eat carrots" he says looking at his brother. I think we all know why Charlie doesn't like carrots. I mean I don't know Russell but that's really set me off on the wrong foot with him. I mean we're just trying to encourage the kids to eat vegetables.

"So what are you interests at school Dylan" I ask.

"Well I'm on both the basketball and soccer teams" Dylan replies.

"That's cool" I smile. "I wasn't hugely sporty at school but I was in the glee club and I did dance outside of school" I tell him.

"Cool" Dylan nods.

"I used to be in the glee club at school as well but guess who else was" Santana says and Dylan looks at her confused. "Your mom" she smiles.

"Really?" Dylan asks surprised.

"Yeah and we also almost joined the college glee club but decided against it when our workloads were too much" Santana tells him.

"The less said about that the better I think" Russell states shaking his head.

"Don't you like the glee club?" I ask slightly taken aback by his tone.

"The glee club is a waste of time and money" Russell states.

"I mean it seems fun in the beginning but when you think about how much money they put towards the arts it's actually quite ridiculous" Christina says shaking her head. Everyone is entitled to their opinion so if they think that then fair enough.

"So are you thinking of applying to any colleges?" I ask Dylan.

"Of course he is" Russell frowns at me. "You don't get anywhere if you don't go to college you know" he states.

"I don't know if that's 100% true" Santana states. "I mean you just said you were interested in basketball and soccer Dylan so maybe you would've liked to have went down that route."

"No he's going to go into medicine. He's going to become a doctor" Russell replies.

"I would have loved to be a doctor and help people but I'm just not smart enough" I tell Dylan.

"Well that's obvious" Russell says rolling his eyes.

"I beg your pardon?" Santana states annoyed.

"It's ok" I whisper to her as I comfortingly place my hand on her knee to calm her down.

"The food is really nice by the way" Christina says trying to change the subject.

"Thank you" Santana smiles.

"I don't cook too much at home myself since we have a chef but its nice having a big hearty home cooked meal every once in a while" Christina states. Ordinarily I think Santana and I would have took that as a compliment but the more I think of how her tone was the more it seems like a bit of a back handed compliment insinuating it's not to her restaurant high standard quality.

"Do you remember those nights back in college Christina where we would order pizza because we were too busy with assignments to cook?" Santana asks.

"I do remember and I don't think my waistline ever recovered" Christina states.

"It didn't" Russell adds with a shrug. Ok this is getting uncomfortable now. They seemed so nice in the beginning but now things are weird. I would never say to Santana she doesn't have a great figure because she ate a few slices of pizza.

XXX

"Was it just me or did something seem a little off with all of them tonight?" Santana asks.

"I mean this is the first time I have met them so I don't really know them that well but I did get a weird vibe at times" I admit.

"Christina and Russell used to be so happy together and Dylan really was the love of their lives but that was the weirdest thing I have ever seen. It was like Dylan couldn't speak for himself" she says.

"Yeah that Russell must think he's superior to us or something" I shake my head.

"Do you know I used to babysit Dylan a lot while they both went out to work and they used to be so grateful" Santana says shaking her head. "You know yourself how hard raising a child is with college and trying to work and honestly they really seemed grateful for my help. The people I saw tonight though are another story. You could save their life and they'd barely even bat an eyelid."

"I wanted to ram the plate of carrots right into his face and I'm not a violent person" I state.

"Yeah I also wanted to say something when he said Christina's waistline wasn't what it was because she ate some pizza back in the day. I mean what the hell" Santana says rolling her eyes.

"It was the comments he made about the house that got me wondering in the beginning but I let it slide because he had only been here 5 minutes" I say.

"What comments?" she asks confused.

"When you were sorting dinner, I was talking to them and they made a few remarks about the house. The décor wasn't very good and the house was apparently small" I reply. "Anyway they're away now so no need to worry about them."

"Dylan seems like a good kid though" Santana points out.

"Yeah he does" I nod. "For only being 4 though, Charlie is a lot like his dad" I say.

"Yeah he was a little rude for being a 4 year old as well" she states. I mean we don't want to be judging other people's parenting but the boy was rude. He spat out his dessert across the table and then laughed about it. Then he kept kicking his brother for no apparent reason while his parents sat back and watched. The only reason he stopped was because Dylan questioned him on it.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I've just left my office so now I'm making my way downstairs to go home to Santana and the kids. I decided to cut through the ER because it was a lot quicker than taking the stairs outside the physiotherapy department to then have to walk all the way around the hospital to just get to my car. As I'm rushing through the department, since I'm desperate to see Santana, I notice a familiar face sitting in one of the treatment areas. It wasn't like I was being nosy and looking around, I just happened to catch sight of him from afar since the curtain was open.

"Dylan?" I say confused.

"Uh…hi Brittany" he says shocked.

"What are you doing here?" I ask.

"I had a slight accident at home so I'm just getting some stitches in my arm" he replies like it's no big deal.

"Where are your parents?" I ask concerned.

"They're not here just now, they're at work" Dylan replies.

"Do you want me to call them and let them know you're here?" I ask.

"No it's ok because they already know I'm here" Dylan shrugs again like it's no big deal. If one of my children were injured then work would be the last thing on my mind. I'd be rushing straight to the hospital to see them.

"Did your dad do this to you?" I ask sceptically.

"N-no of course not" he shakes his head but I can tell something isn't right here.

"You can tell me if he did" I assure him.

"No I swear he didn't touch me" Dylan states.

"So how did you get hurt?" I ask.

"I forgot to take my keys with me this morning" Dylan sighs. "I called my dad at work to see if I could come and borrow his but he told me it was my fault so I had to figure it out how to get home. I really didn't know what else to do but jump the fence so that's what I did except I got caught and fell and hit my arm on the tarmac."

"What an ass" I say shaking my head.

"I know it was stupid but the only way to get into our grounds without the keys was to jump the large fence and then climb along the garage roof and then shimmy down the drain pipe and then try and pry open a window from the outside" he states.

"Oh no I didn't mean you were an ass, I meant your dad" I state. "He should have gave you his keys and saved all of this happening" I shake my head.

"Usually our chef or someone would be there so they could let me in but the day I forgot my keys is the day that no one is at home" he says shaking his head.

"Ok Dylan, that's you all stitched up" the resident doctor smiles. "Shall I get the reception to call you a cab home?"

"No it's fine, I'll walk" Dylan shakes his head.

"I'd advise someone giving you a ride home because you need to rest. You might have only needed a few stitches but that was a nasty fall and you're quite bruised" the doctor points out.

"No I really can't get anyone because I used the last of my money on a cab to get here so I'm just going to walk" he says while slowly getting up from the bed.

"I really don't think…" the doctor tries to protest but Dylan just walks away.

"Dylan wait, let me give you the money" I say while chasing after him.

"No I can't" he says declining my offer.

"Let me give you a ride then in my car" I suggest. "It's right outside so please let me help" I say.

"Fine if it'll stop you following me" Dylan replies while sighing.

"Ok good" I smile. We then make our way outside to my car and get in. "So is there somewhere a little friendlier you could go tonight or am I taking you home to your parents?" I ask.

"I'll need to go home to my parents because I have no one else. I mean I've got friends but I'm not going to put their parents out like that so back to the assholes it is" Dylan sighs. I don't know the boy all that well but I can tell he really doesn't want to go home tonight.

"Look we have a spare room at home so why don't you stay with Santana and me for the night" I suggest.

"No it's fine, I'll just go home" he states.

"You've just had a bad fall so I don't want you going home alone" I say honestly. I know his parents will be home eventually but if they can't even be bothered to come to the hospital then what good will they be looking after him tonight.

"Honestly I don't want to put you out, especially when I barely know you" he replies.

"I may have just met you but by the sounds of things you used to see Santana all the time. In fact she even told me she used to babysit you when your parents were at work or whatever" I say.

"Yeah Santana was always fun to get to hang out with" he says smiling at the thought.

"Just stay the night with us then and get some rest" I smile.

"Ok" he smiles back.

"Actually who am I kidding, there's no way you're going to get any rest when Aiden sees you. He took a particular shine to you the other night" I laugh. "Apparently Santana and I don't play soccer good enough for him."

"Aiden is a good kid, I like him" Dylan smiles. It doesn't take us long to get back to the house so we're there before we know it. As soon as I park up, we head inside.

"Babe I'm home" I announce myself as I walk through the front door.

"I'm in the kitchen" I hear her reply so I make my way through there.

"We have a guest for dinner" I tell her just as I walk into the kitchen with Dylan close behind me.

"That's cool" she smiles. "Aiden will be very happy to hear…whoa what happened?" she says just noticing the stitches on Dylan's arm.

"No time for chit chat, we're starving" I say before Dylan gets a chance to reply. I can see he doesn't really want to talk about things so I'll fill Santana in later.

"But…"

"I'll tell you later" I whisper in Santana's ear before kissing her cheek. "Dylan why don't you take a seat in the living room and I'll bring you something to drink" I suggest and he nods.

"We'll also unleash the little terror from the other room so watch out" Santana jokes talking about Aiden.

"Ok" Dylan laughs before going to the other room.

"So what happened?" Santana asks seriously.

"I'll tell you in a second, just let me get Dylan something to drink" I smile and she nods. Once I've poured him something, I make my way to the study to see Aiden and Ella. Ella is still sleeping while Aiden is sitting playing with some toys. "Aid, come with mommy a second" I say while placing the drink down to lift Aiden out of his playpen.

"Mommy" he smiles brightly at me while kissing my cheek.

"I missed you today" I say while picking the drink up again after putting Aiden on the floor. "Let's go through here" I say while walking to the living room with Aiden hot on my heels. As soon as he walks into the room he sprints over to the couch where Dylan is.

"Hi buddy" Dylan smiles at him.

"Ball?" Aiden questions while climbing onto the couch next to him.

"Maybe you'll play later but mom is almost done with dinner so you keep Dylan company just now" I tell Aiden while handing Dylan the drink.

"Thank you" Dylan smiles.

"I'm going to see Ella and help Santana with dinner so we'll come and get you when it's ready" I tell them before leaving the room. I get Ella and then head back to the kitchen.

"So what's going on?" Santana asks curiously.

"You're like a dog with a bone babe, it's so cute" I smile at her.

"Brittany the boy has stitches in his arm not to mention a ton of bruising all over him so it's not exactly a time to joke" she states.

"I know and I said I would tell you so let me get a breath please" I smile. "I just wanted to get him to rest and give him something to drink first."

"Ok I'm sorry" she apologises. I then go on to tell her the whole story and how he's going to spend the night here.

"I know I should have run things by you first but he was going to walk home and go back to those awful parents of his" I say shaking my head.

"No I'm glad you brought him back here. I know I haven't really spoken to his family in years but there definitely was something strange about the other night so I'm just glad he's ok" Santana replies.

As soon as dinner is ready, we get Dylan and Aiden to the table and all sit down to eat together. It's a little awkward at first because Dylan is a bit nervous because he doesn't want to impose on us but a few jokes from Santana and I get him settled ok.

"So what was Santana like in her early twenties?" I ask Dylan.

"It's hard to say since I was only about 5 or 6 back then but I think she was ok" Dylan laughs.

"Did she have a lot of girls over when she used to babysit you?" I ask causing Santana to playfully shake her head at me.

"Not that I remember no" Dylan replies. "Although a couple of years later when we came back to visit one summer she was dating this girl named Jennifer. She wasn't very nice though" he states causing Santana to spit out her water in surprise.

"Oh really" I say looking at Santana.

"A couple of times when Santana was looking after me, Jennifer would come over and then throw a tantrum because Santana wasn't alone" he states. "You have no idea how glad I was when I saw you last night Brittany and not Jennifer. My mom said Santana was married and the last time we saw her she was with Jennifer so I was slightly worried Jennifer was her wife" he points out.

"Well you're actually sort of right" I say smirking at Santana.

"What, you're not married to Santana?" Dylan asks confused.

"No I am" I laugh. "What I mean is Santana did marry Jennifer but eventually she saw sense and then married her barista" I smile.

"You've been married 3 times?" Dylan asks Santana surprised.

"Not yet but maybe" Santana states while smirking at me. "It all depends on whether Brittany gives me that divorce or not."

"Ok I'm lost" Dylan shakes his head.

"Ok I was married to Jennifer for a few months in 2014 which Brittany takes great delight in" she says smiling at me. She knows I'm only teasing her though.

"Ok and the barista?" Dylan asks.

"That's actually me. I used to work in a café before I got my physiotherapy degree and it's actually where Santana and I met" I reply.

"That makes sense" Dylan nods in understanding.

"Santana doesn't actually want to divorce me, she was just getting me back for winding her up. I like to tease her because we actually met when she was 24 so technically she could have just waited a year or so and I'd be her first wife" I smile.

"We all make mistakes for a reason though and mine was marrying Jennifer so I could see just how not meant to be we were and how I should aim higher" Santana replies.

"Which she did and got me" I smile triumphantly.

"Even though I haven't seen you in a number of years Santana and I don't really know you Brittany, I think you two seem pretty perfect together" Dylan states.

"Thank you" Santana smiles. "Anyway enough about Britt and me, tell me more about you since I last saw you. I mean you're 16 now but you were 8 the last time we hung out."

"There's not much to tell because I pretty much said it the other night" Dylan replies. "I mean my parents moved away when I was 6 as you know and eventually they just lost contact with everyone by the time I was 9 I guess."

"Maybe it's not my place to ask you but what happened because that summer you all came to visit was good and then the next thing I know your mom barely talks to me?" Santana asks.

"It was probably due to the whole thing with my dad" Dylan admits.

"Your dad does seem like a bit of a jerk nowadays" Santana states.

"Truth be told I think he's jealous of me" Dylan states. "He only wants me to become a doctor or something like that because he knows if I stay with basketball then I'll be better than he ever was."

"Yeah your dad did used to play basketball at school and college didn't he?" Santana says.

"Yeah but a couple of years after we all moved away when he transferred colleges, he got a shoulder injury that ended his career as a basketball player" Dylan replies.

"Oh I see" Santana nods in understanding.

"He knows I'm going to beat his scoring record before I finish school hence the reason he's trying to steer me towards soccer and obviously a career in medicine" Dylan tells us.

"I assume this shoulder injury took a toll on things" Santana says.

"It really did because the whole reason he was in college was for basketball and then that ended. Suddenly he had to figure out what to do with his life and it really affected his relationship with my mom" Dylan points out. "Things just became complicated and eventually they had alienated themselves from everyone around them. Eventually he got things back on track and has a really well paid job now but he's not the same person anymore. I think I'm the only one who can see he's changed."

"Well anyway let's just move on for the moment and enjoy dinner" I smile. I can tell things are getting a bit awkward for Dylan so it's best we leave it there about his family.


	38. Christmas is Here!

Chapter 38: Christmas is here!

Santana's POV

Dylan ended up staying a few extra nights with us because we just hated the thought of him going home back to those two asses he calls mom and dad. I don't have the same worries about Charlie because I can see they treat him a lot better than they do Dylan which is just a shame. I'm not going to actually tell Dylan this and freak him out but the laceration on his arm is quite severe looking so this is not only going to affect him physically for a little bit but it could affect him emotionally too when he isn't getting to play basketball.

I've not long just got home from taking Aiden and Ella out for a bit so I've just put them down for a nap. I'm just wrapping a few Christmas presents in my room when I notice Dylan walk past so I call him inside. I was thinking about making some lunch soon anyway so I wanted to ask him if he wanted anything. As he walks into the room, I see a girl follow him.

"Who's this?" I ask confused.

"This is Stephanie" Dylan replies.

"I've never met a Stephanie before so why is she coming out of your bedroom and why are you shirtless?" I ask.

"We were just hanging out" Dylan shrugs.

"Yeah I hang out shirtless too" I smirk.

"No I swear we were actually hanging out. Stephanie was just putting some cream on my injuries on my back" he replies talking about the cuts and bruises he got when he fell.

"Ok, fair enough" I nod. "Anyway I'm Santana by the way" I say holding my hand out to the girl.

"Stephanie, obviously" she smiles.

"It's nice to meet you" I say.

"You too" she smiles again.

"Anyway I'm just going to get lunch soon if you want me to make you anything" I tell Dylan.

"I was just walking Stephanie to the door and then I was actually just about to make something to eat so why don't I make you something too" he suggests.

"Ok" I smile. "I'll just finish wrapping a couple of these gifts for Britt and then I'll be downstairs" I tell him.

"What about Aiden, will I make him anything?" he asks.

"I've only just managed to get him to sleep so I'll make him something later because if I wake him now he'll never go back to sleep and Britt will kill me" I state.

"Ok" Dylan laughs before heading towards the door to go downstairs.

"Oh before you go I need to ask you something" I say.

"What's up?" Dylan asks turning back around.

"Do you know what Brittany has got me for Christmas?" I ask.

"I know some of the things, yes" he replies laughing.

"Is it a lot?" I ask curiously.

"Yeah I don't think we should be talking about this or Brittany won't just be killing you today" he laughs.

"It's not like I want to know exactly what she's got me, I just want to know how many things so I can match it" I shrug.

"I'm still not telling you" he shakes his head.

"Fine" I sigh.

"Anyway I'll go and make lunch now" Dylan states.

"Ok but put a shirt on first though, I don't want you to get burned or something when cooking shirtless" I tell him and he nods. He and Stephanie then leave.

"Wow…they actually give a shit about you?" I hear Stephanie say.

"I know and it's kinda nice actually because I'm so used to getting ignored like my parents do to me" Dylan replies.

XXX

Dylan and I have just sat down to lunch. Brittany is still at work and the kids are still napping. We're just talking while we eat but it isn't about anything in particular, mostly we're just catching up on the last few years.

"So how long ago did you move back here?" I ask curiously.

"We moved back here about 4 years ago I think it was" he replies.

"Oh wow" I say shocked. They've been here for 4 years already and I've never ran into them once in that time. I thought Christina might have got into contact again to say she was moving back or something but she didn't.

"So do you quite like it living here or would you ever like to move?" Dylan asks.

"No I'm pretty happy with my life here" I say. "I like going on vacations and seeing the world but I wouldn't want to move I don't think" I point out and he nods.

"By the way I'm really grateful for you and Brittany letting me stay here for a few days but I probably should be going back to my parents' house soon" he states.

"You don't have to go back right away" I tell him honestly.

"No I do because it's Christmas in a few days and I don't want to intrude on your family" he replies.

"Honestly you're more than welcome to have Christmas with us. I mean Aiden really loves having you around as well" I say honestly. "Don't tell Brittany this because she'll freak out but Aiden told me he wanted a brother for Christmas" I smile.

"Oh really" Dylan laughs.

"Yeah" I nod. "Seriously though, we want you to stay for Christmas so if it's what you want then just stay."

"Don't you want it to just be your family since its Ella's first Christmas?" he asks.

"I mean I know we're not related and I haven't seen you in a good number of years but I would say we're sort of family" I say genuinely.

"Ok" Dylan smiles.

"So you'll stay and have Christmas with us then?" I ask.

"Yeah" he smiles again.

* * *

Brittany's POV

I'm just doing some last minute shopping with the kids and Emma. Even though Santana isn't back at work yet, I figured she could do with a day to herself so I took the kids out with me to let her relax. I've got most of the Christmas presents all sorted but I wanted to get Santana a few other things. We're currently in a jewellery shop while I look at different pieces I could get Santana.

"So what bracelet do we think mom will like better?" I ask Aiden but he isn't really that interested. "What do you think Emma?" I turn around to ask my sister.

"I don't know much about Santana's taste in jewellery but personally I would prefer this one as a gift" she replies while pointing to the one with the love-heart charm.

"Yeah I think I might go with that one" I nod. After picking up another few last minute Christmas things, we all head back home. I drop Emma off at her own place and then the kids get lunch before taking a nap. I'm now at the gym getting in a bit of a workout and Dylan decided to tag along so he's with me too.

"So what were you like at 16?" Dylan asks curiously.

"I was actually a pretty good teenager on the whole" I nod. "I mean I had my usual teenage dramas but I did well at school and I kept out of trouble as best I could" I say honestly.

"Cool" Dylan nods.

"I had a part time job too in a café because I knew I wanted to go to college but I didn't want my parents to have to pay for everything so I decided to make a little money of my own" I tell him.

"It sounds like you were a pretty grown up teenager, quite a responsible one too with your own job and stuff" he states.

"I mean I guess so but like I say I still got up to some stuff that maybe wasn't so responsible" I admit.

"So what kind of things did you get up to?" he asks curiously.

"I was hitting on Santana for the most part to be honest and trying to get her to notice me" I admit with a slight chuckle. It's funny but it's actually true.

"Weren't your parents concerned since she was a bit older than you?" he asks.

"They didn't know right away but my friends were a little wary and my sister" I reply. "We didn't do anything illegal though, I was definitely of age by the time we were officially together" I point out.

"Yeah Santana is good like that, she always respects others and does the right thing" Dylan states.

"Yeah she does" I say smiling at the thought of Santana. "So anyway Santana mentioned you had your girlfriend over the other day, how's that going" I say.

"She's not my girlfriend actually, she's just a friend" Dylan replies while shaking his head.

"Look I don't know how your parents handled you having someone over but it's really ok with us. I mean I was a teenager not that long ago so I get it. I mean of course I want you both to be respectful and things but like I say I get it" I say honestly.

"No really, she's just a friend" he assures me. "Truth be told, I've never really had the opportunity to have a girlfriend because I'm always busy with soccer or basketball practice and my parents don't even let my friends come over so I doubt they'd like a girl there."

"Oh I see" I nod.

"I just figured since you let my other friends come over to play basketball the other day then it'd be ok to have Stephanie over" he states.

"And it is ok" I assure him. "If it is someone you like romantically then all we're saying is just take a few extra measures if you catch my drift."

"Yeah don't worry" he smiles.

"Anyway, we should probably be getting home now so I can relieve Santana of her mommy duties" I say. I know she loves looking after the kids and likes taking the time off work but I still feel I should do a bit more to help sometimes.

"That's cool" Dylan nods. As soon as we grab our stuff, we head back home. When we arrive, Santana is tidying up the kitchen while the kids are asleep. As soon as she sees me enter the room, she smiles and walks over to me.

"Don't get too close to me; that was a pretty hard workout I just did so I'm sweating profusely" I smile.

"Ok" she shrugs.

"I'll take a quick shower though and as soon as I'm done you can kiss me" I tell her.

"Ok that's Dylan's cue to leave" Dylan states while turning around and walking back over to the door.

"It's just a kiss we're talking about, relax" I laugh.

"Yeah you have two young children that prove what a kiss can lead to with you two" he teases.

"Yeah-yeah, whatever" Santana says while playfully rolling her eyes at him.

"No seriously though I was leaving anyway. I need a shower as well so I'll use the other bathroom if that's ok" he replies.

"Yeah that's fine" I nod. Dylan then goes upstairs to shower in the main bathroom while I go to my ensuite to shower. As soon as I'm done, I walk out and see Santana just sitting down on the bed with Ella in her arms.

"How's my favourite girl?" Santana smiles down at Ella while burping her.

"I'm fine, a little exhausted but fine" I reply while sitting down next to her.

"Good to know" Santana says laughing.

"So how has your day been so far?" I ask.

"Not too bad actually" she smiles. "I had a nice relaxing morning and then the kids pretty much slept most of the afternoon there when you were out."

"That's good" I smile.

"Oh not again" Santana sighs after a second.

"You look sexy?" I tease.

"Ella just threw up all over me" Santana sighs again while shaking her head.

"Do you want me to take her and you can get cleaned up?" I ask.

"Please" she nods while handing Ella to me.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Friday 24th December 2021

Christmas is one day away so Santana and I are busy getting things prepared for the kids and handing out Christmas gifts to everyone. One of my friends from college is coming over so we can swap Christmas presents so I'm just arranging the kids presents under the tree and tidying up a little as I wait. As soon as the doorbell rings, I quickly answer it.

"Hi, how are you?" Jessica asks walking inside.

"I'm good. The kids are driving us wild but other than that I'm good" I smile back.

"I won't stay too long then. I just wanted to give you your Christmas present" she replies.

"No stay as long as you want" I tell her just as Santana comes into the room with Aiden. She leaves him with me while she goes to attend to Ella.

"I know you hate me saying it but Aiden literally is a mini Santana" Jessica smiles.

"He really is" I smile. "He's actually started glaring and pulling these awful facial expressions and honestly he looks so much like Santana when he does."

"That's cute" she smiles.

"It's not when the glare is directed at you" I laugh. "I stole a grape from him and I honestly thought he was going to kill me."

"Oh wow" she laughs.

"So what are your plans for Christmas?" I ask just as Santana walks back into the room with Ella.

"Well I had a fight with my parents so it looks like I'm spending Christmas alone" Jessica replies downheartedly.

"No you can't do that" I shake my head.

"You should come to us because we're having a whole lot of people over anyway so there will be plenty of food" Santana states.

"Oh no I wasn't fishing for an invite" Jessica shakes her head.

"Honestly you're more than welcome to have dinner with us" Santana smiles.

"Are you sure you really don't mind?" Jessica asks.

"Of course not" I shake my head. "You might as well spend some time with people you know plus it probably would make Dylan feel better not being the only non-paired person" I state. Mostly everyone that's having Christmas with us will be all coupled up except Dylan, Aiden and Ella.

"Thanks for reminding me I'm single this year" Jessica laughs.

"No I didn't mean it like that" I smile.

"I'm only teasing, relax" Jessica states. "So anyway, how are things going with having another house guest" she asks curiously.

"Really good actually" Santana nods. "Dylan is no trouble at all and the kids really like him" she points out.

"It must be weird though having a teenager around again" Jessica states.

"Not for me because it wasn't long ago I was a teenager but for Santana it's been a real long time so it might be weird for her" I say turning to smirk at Santana.

"It hasn't actually been that long for me because I dealt with you as a teenager" Santana smartly replies.

"Good point" I laugh.

"Speaking of Dylan, I think that's him just coming through the door just now" Santana says as we hear some noise. Dylan then walks into the living room where we are.

"This is Jessica, one of my friends I went to college with" I tell Dylan.

"Nice to meet you" Dylan smiles.

"You too" Jessica smiles back. We all then chat for a little bit and after Jessica left, I played with the kids while Santana did some laundry. I've just managed to get Aiden and Ella to sleep now so I'm making my way to my bedroom to see what Santana is up to.

"Excuse me, what do you think you're doing?" I ask Santana seriously when I see her raking through my closet.

"Oh…I'm just…putting some laundry of yours away" she shrugs.

"I don't want you going through my closet when it's this close to Christmas Santana" I state.

"Why?" she smirks.

"Your Christmas presents are in there" I tell her. "Look I know you're curious but you'll really spoil Christmas for yourself if you look now."

"I just want to know how much you've got me so I don't get you something that isn't as good as what you've got me" she says honestly.

"Whatever you give me babe I will love so please stop snooping, it's not nice" I state.

"Ok I'm sorry" she says genuinely.

* * *

Santana's POV

Saturday 25th December 2021

I'm just lying in bed peacefully sleeping when I feel a slight weight on me. I crack open one eye and notice Brittany leaning on me slightly while softly kissing all over me. I gently move my hands to caress her back. "This was a nice awakening" I say smirking at her.

"I'm sorry but I just can't keep my hands or lips to myself these days" she smiles while gently running her fingers over my stomach. "Especially when Ella sleeps in her own room now."

"Speaking of the kids, I think Aiden will be itching to get downstairs to see what Santa has brought him" I state.

"I don't really care much about what Santa got me, just what Santana got me" she smirks at me.

"Santana got you a whole lot actually" I say before leaning up to kiss her.

"Anyway we probably should get up now and get the kids" she states and I nod.

We're having both of our families over for Christmas dinner this year as well as Dylan and Jessica joining us so it's going to be fun and probably a little chaotic. My 3 siblings are coming as is Brittany's with their partners so that means Jason will bring Quinn and my nephew Harry. My other brother Eddie is bringing Kitty and their 7 month old son. Then we have my sister Eva who of course is with Brittany's brother Scott and they've just had a little girl so she'll be here as well. Emma is bringing Artie with her and Ben is bringing his new girlfriend Megan. My parents are both going to be here as is Brittany's. James and Karen have landed lucky this year because they managed to get Christmas off since they worked it last year. Brittany is relieved about that because it was Aiden's first Christmas last year and they only saw him for a little bit so she's glad they'll be here for his second Christmas and Ella's first.

Everyone is pitching in to help with the food so it's not like Britt and I have been left with it just because it's our house. Before everyone comes over though, Britt, the kids, Dylan and myself are all going to open our presents together.

"Wow look at all these presents under the tree Aiden" Brittany says while leading him into the living room while I follow behind with Ella and Dylan.

"Wow" Aiden says starting to get excited. We all sit together near the tree and begin opening our presents. Ella doesn't really know what's going on since she's so young but we open her presents for her anyway and show her all the new things she has.

"Oh there's a big present there, I wonder who that's for" Brittany says while crawling over to the large present sitting at the side of the tree. "Oh it's yours Aiden from mom and me" she says while giving me a questioning look. The present she's talking about is one I strictly bought myself for Aiden so Brittany doesn't know what it is yet.

"Why don't you open it Aiden" I smile at him. He excitedly claps his hands together and rushes over to the large present. He begins trying to open it but starts getting frustrated and frowns at the present when he can't get the paper off.

"Shall I help you" I offer while giving Ella to Brittany and standing up.

"No" Aiden shakes his head at me before pushing the large present over to Dylan.

"Someone is no longer the favourite" Brittany teases me.

"I was never the favourite in the first place" I shrug.

"Will I help you?" Dylan asks while laughing as Aiden shoves the present into his foot.

"Yes" Aiden nods while sitting down next to the present as Dylan begins getting the paper off it.

"Oh look at that Aiden, it's a car" Dylan states as he lifts the box away from the wrapping paper.

"Open, open!" Aiden screams in delight.

"Can we open it in here Britt?" I ask. It's the same car we talked about ages ago where he can sit in it and drive it so I don't know if Brittany will want it open in the house.

"Yes and he can get to sit in it just now but he must primarily use it outside because it's too big for indoors" Brittany replies.

"Ok" I smile.

"Open!" Aiden screams again while looking at me and getting annoyed that the car is still in the box.

"We don't shout at people especially mom" Brittany tells him with a warning look.

"Sorry" Aiden mumbles while putting his arms around me.

"That's ok" I smile at him. I really can't resist that adorable face he has. Dylan and I then get the car out of the box and we help Aiden into it. "You can have a little shot in it but no driving it around the house" I tell him and he smiles at me.

"Look at you all grown up in your car" Brittany smiles at him.

"Ella play" he states while looking at Ella and Brittany before pointing to the empty space next to him in the car.

"She's a little bit young for that just now but as soon as everyone comes over later I am sure Harry would love to drive around outside with you" I tell him. Ella doesn't have proper head control at the moment so she wouldn't be able to sit in the car without some support.

After Aiden has a small drive around the house, we finish opening the rest of our presents. Dylan and I cleared up the mess from the wrapping paper while Aiden played with a new toy and Brittany fed and changed Ella. We all then sat down together in the kitchen and had some breakfast before having a bit of a rest before we need to get ready for everyone coming over.

"Thank you for the bracelet" I say while walking over to Brittany and wrapping my arms around her waist.

"I'm so glad I got you it now because I would have felt really bad if I didn't considering you bought me diamond earrings which must have been expensive" she replies while wrapping her arms around my neck.

"Honestly you could have got me a paper bag and I'd be delighted" I tell her.

"Ok" she laughs.

"So I'm thinking I might get changed now and then make a start on some of the food preparation" I say.

"Yeah I'm thinking of doing the same but I want to have a quick shower first" Brittany smiles.

"That's cool" I smile back. "It won't take me long to change so I can check on the kids if you want to have your shower now" I tell her and she nods before going for a shower. I quickly change my clothes and then go downstairs to check on the kids who are with Dylan. He was happy to sit with them for a bit so I decided to get them changed before taking them back to Dylan while I just made a start on some food preparation.

"You're not wearing a bra" Brittany smirks at me as she walks over to me.

"Tell me something I don't know" I smirk back.

"Was this strictly for my benefit?" she asks stepping closer to me.

"To be honest the style of the dress doesn't suit a bra but it doesn't hurt that it attracts the attention of my wife" I point out.

"So you're not doing it to tease me because you know we'll have a house full of guests today so there won't be a chance to you know…get hot and heavy" she replies while slowly running a hand down my dress.

"I mean that might be part of the reason" I shrug. Even though we're not going out for Christmas, we all still like to dress up and have a nice dinner with our family.

"I must admit your boobs are looking pretty good right now" I smirk.

"That's because Ella is just about to get fed again" she laughs. "Wait until she's done and they'll be a lot more deflated" she states.

"Pardon my ignorance but is that really what happens?" I ask curiously but she just laughs and goes to feed Ella. I'm not 100% sure if she's winding me up or not. It's not like I ogle her whenever she's feeding Ella so I don't actually notice what happens if anything does.

As soon as Brittany is finished, she leaves Ella with me while she goes upstairs to put on some clothes. She then comes back down again and joins me in the kitchen.

"How do I look, do I look presentable enough for a house full of guests?" she asks.

"You look amazing" I smile.

"Thank you" she says while kissing my cheek.

"Are you ok to take Ella again while I continue with this food?" I ask and Brittany nods while taking Ella from me.

"Ella looks beautiful in her dress babe" she smiles. "You really didn't need to spend that much on it though because she won't stay that size for long."

"If I want to spoil my daughter I will" I smile.

"Aiden also looks so cute in his tux too" she tells me.

XXX

Both families have all arrived now and I've got some unhappy helpers with me in the kitchen at the moment to help me cook dinner. They're not exactly thrilled to be helping me because I'm starting to get a bit controlling and none of my family like it when I get like that. Brittany thinks it's cute but that's a different story altogether. I'm just basting the turkey when Brittany comes over to me and pulls me away before twisting me around. She then leans down and kisses me before letting me go again.

"Mistletoe, sorry I had to" she shrugs pointing to the mistletoe above me before leaving the room again.

"Did Britt seriously just come in here to kiss me?" I ask slightly flustered. I mean we kiss all the time and it's good but that one really caught me off guard.

"Looks like it" my sister laughs. "From now on though you can stick to basting the turkey whenever it's needed because I can't risk standing under that mistletoe. I'm a happily in love woman so I don't need Brittany kissing me like that.

"Brittany likes someone from a much superior league to the one you're in so don't panic she's not going to kiss you" I tease.

"Yeah I wouldn't want to go near anyone that's had your lips on them anyway" Eva shrugs.

"I'll have you know I'm an extremely good kisser" I state.

"I don't need to know that about my sister, honestly" Eva shakes her head.

"Well I don't need to walk in on my 16 year old sister having sex either but shit happens" I shrug.

"I beg your pardon" my dad states walking into the room.

"What did I say?" I frown in confusion but I know exactly what I said.

"Eva you told me you were 19 when you first slept with a boy" my dad states and I can't help but laugh at that.

"I was dad, Santana is just getting mixed up that's all" Eva says while viciously glaring at me.

"I can guarantee you I'm not" I smirk. Oh I just love it when I wind my siblings up. Little goodie two shoes Eva isn't looking so perfect now.

"Santana…" Eva snaps at me.

"What?" I ask laughing.

"Did you know Santana was actually 14 when she first slept with someone" Eva states.

"No I wasn't" I state annoyed. I can say for 100% sure I was not 14.

"Do you know what, I can't tell who is telling the truth here so I'm just not going to let it bother me" my dad sighs. My sister and I always tease each other so I guess my dad has had enough and just wants to enjoy Christmas. "You're both clearly older now and have your own families so I suppose it doesn't matter" he shrugs.

"Yeah I suppose" I nod in agreement. My dad then gets his beer and a few other drinks for people before leaving the kitchen again. Eventually it's really just Eva and I left in the kitchen tidying up since most of the preparation is done now and we just need to wait on things cooking so everyone else is in the other room chatting.

"Hey do you need any help" Jessica asks walking into the room.

"No we're about done here" I smile.

"Ok" she replies quietly while nodding.

"Are you ok?" I ask.

"Yeah" she nods. "To be honest with you I just needed to get out of there for a moment. I mean I really appreciate you all inviting me here but seeing everyone laughing and joking together just made me miss having that sort of happy Christmas with my family" she sighs.

"Well you can hang out with us for a bit in here if you need a quiet moment" I smile.

"Thanks" she replies. "I was talking to Brittany but she had to change Ella and even though I know Emma quite well she was with Artie and I didn't really know many of the others to talk to."

"Well we're more than happy for you to keep us company in here" Eva smiles.

"Thanks" Jessica replies.

"Hey Santana" Dylan asks walking into the room.

"Yeah?" I ask.

"James and your dad said they'd let me have some beer as long as it was ok with you and Brittany but I can't find Brittany so can I have some?" he asks.

"Since its Christmas you can have one but you won't be getting drunk because you're 16 remember" I reply.

"Thank you" he smiles before getting a beer out of the fridge.

"Wait a minute" Eva says stopping him before he leaves the kitchen. "Santana's and my dad said you could have beer?" she asks.

"Yeah" he nods while frowning in confusion.

"That ass never let us drink at 16 did he?" Eva asks turning to look at me.

"No he did not but I guess since he's a grandparent now he spoils all the kids. All of our kids get away with murder with dad unlike what we got away with as toddlers" I point out.

"Funny you say that actually because I used to go to my grandparents if I wanted something because I knew my parents wouldn't let me have it" Jessica states. "I guess it's a grandparent thing or something. Your strict with your kids but spoil the grandkids" she shrugs.

"It must be" I shrug before going back to clear up with Eva.

"Are you staying in here or are you coming back through?" I hear Dylan asks Jessica.

"I might just stay here for a little bit where it's quieter because it's a bit awkward sitting with a lot of people I don't know" Jessica admits.

"I know what you mean" Dylan nods in agreement. "So you went to college with Brittany then?" he asks Jessica.

"I did but I ended up getting a job at a different hospital" she replies. "We still see each other all the time though" she points out.

"Cool" Dylan nods.

"So what's your story Dylan?" Jessica asks. "I mean I know your parents knew Santana back in college but what brought you back here?"

"Well my parents wanted to move back here to be close to their families again but they didn't really get in touch with their old friends again so I hadn't seen Santana in a good few years" Dylan replies. "Long story short is that we all had dinner together and my parents showed just how much of an asshole they have both turned into so Brittany and Santana said I could crash here for a bit" he states.

"Yeah my parents can go to hell as far as I'm concerned" Jessica sighs.

"Mine too" Dylan nods in agreement.

"Come on its Christmas, let's think about happier things today" I say walking over to them. "Let's all enjoy ourselves because the people here today are what matters" I tell them.

"Yeah" Dylan nods.

"So the dinner preparation is all done for just now so let's all go through and have fun with the others" Eva states. We all then head through to join the others in the living room.

"Hi" I smile at Brittany while squeezing into the seat she's sitting on and kissing her cheek.

"Hey" she smiles at me.

"How old is Jessica?" I ask as I see Jessica and Dylan sit down next to each other.

"Well we were in the same year at school and stuff but her birthday isn't until June" Brittany replies. "Why what's up?"

"I think she and Dylan might like each other" I say. I'm not just talking about them briefly bonding in the kitchen but throughout the day I've noticed a few looks from them.

"Oh" Brittany says surprised.

"I think I'm getting a taste of how our parents felt when we got together" I sigh. "I'm not really sure how I feel about that especially when Dylan hasn't had a girlfriend before. I mean don't get me wrong Jessica is a lovely girl but she is your age not Dylan's."

"They've literally just met and they're just getting to know each other so I really don't think we need to be concerned right now. They're probably just being mature and talking to one another like anyone would do at a gathering" Brittany replies.

"Ok" I nod. Maybe I am just seeing things that aren't quite there. I mean it is ok for a male and female to talk and get to know one another without it meaning something.

"Babe can you help me bring in the other bottles of wine from the garage" Brittany says standing up from her seat and I frown in confusion.

"Honey I told you I did that earlier" I state.

"No you didn't get all of them" she replies while motioning with her head for me to follow her.

"Yeah I…"

"No you didn't" she says cutting me off mid-sentence. I could have sworn I did but perhaps I was too wrapped up in Christmas to notice I missed one.

"Um…ok" I say following her. As soon as we shut the garage door behind us, I realise I was right. "See I told you I got them all" I state. Brittany doesn't verbally reply, instead she grabs a hold of me and pushes me against the wall and kisses me.

"No you really didn't" she smiles.

"I like your style baby pretending we left something out here just so we could be alone" I smile.

"I know" she smiles. "It's funny, us sneaking off in our own home for a little make out session" she laughs.

"I know but its Christmas so it's a time to have fun plus we can't exactly make out in front of the kids can we" I state.

"No we can't" Brittany says before leaning in to kiss me again. As the kiss heats up, she keeps me pinned against the wall. "Can I get you off?" she smirks while pulling away for a second to look at me.

"As much as I really want that…like really want that, I don't think you should" I say honestly.

"Do I not turn you on enough today for you to get hard?" she asks looking down while playing with my hand nervously.

"Britt, come on" I deadpan. "This is not the case at all because you know how much I want you" I assure her. "You know how transparent I am so it'll be obvious to everyone what's just happened and plus we've been out here for a while now so that alone is enough to indicate something."

"Ok" she nods.

"Where is this lack of confidence suddenly coming from?" I ask. One minute she's super happy and kissing me whenever she can in the kitchen and the next she seems really self-conscious.

"Have you seen your sister" she states.

"What do you mean?" I ask confused.

"I thought I had done well losing the baby weight but your sister is on another level. I mean I know she had her baby before me but it was only a week or so of a difference and she looks ten times better than I do" she admits.

"Baby…you look amazing trust me" I state. "My sister does not look better than you by any means. I mean yes she's a good looking girl but I wouldn't say she looks better. No two figures are going to compare anyway. I mean we are both smoking hot young women but our bodies are slightly different."

"You have to say that" she mumbles.

"Brittany I can assure you, you look amazing" I say while wrapping my arms around her. "I swear on my children's lives, that I mean it when I say you look amazing. Now would I do that if I was only saying it but didn't mean it?" I ask.

"No" she replies. "It's just my own sister and my mom kept complimenting Eva on how she looks and they never said it to me" she sighs.

"Honey your family won't see my sister as much as they see you so they're just being polite I think. I don't think they think you haven't lost weight. Sometimes it's more noticeable when you don't see someone for a while" I try to reason.

"Ok" she nods.

"I mean you see me all the time so is it noticeable to you that I have gained 3lbs?" I ask.

"No you haven't" Brittany shakes her head.

"I swear babe I have" I say honestly.

XXX

"Hey let me fix your hair" I laugh as I notice her hair is a little bit messed up right now.

"That will be from your handy work" she smiles at me.

"Exactly" I smile back. "Anyway we should go back inside now because everyone will be wondering where we are and I probably should check on some of the food too" I tell her.

"Ok" she nods. I take her hand and we walk back inside. When we walk into the kitchen, my mom and Brittany's mom are in there checking on dinner.

"Where on earth were you two?" my mom asks. "Karen and I have been rushed off our feet checking on everything for dinner because we couldn't find you Santana so we didn't know what needed done and how long you were cooking things for."

"Sorry" I apologise while walking over to help them. "Not a lot really does need done right now mom" I tell her.

"So where is the wine?" Eva asks while walking into the room.

"The wine is where it always was in the dining room" I say frowning in confusion.

"No the wine you went to the garage for" my sister states.

"Oh right that" I nod remembering why we supposedly went to the garage. "Britt just made a mistake because she didn't see the two bottles over at the side so she thought I hadn't brought it all inside when I had" I shrug.

"Really?" Eva questions.

"Yeah" I shrug again.

"How convenient was that huh" she smirks. "You didn't actually need to get anything from there after all" she states.

"I'm getting the feeling you're trying to say something to me but you're not actually saying it so please just say it because I'm getting bored" I tell my sister.

"I like your lipstick" she smiles. "Did you get it from Brittany's lips after a heavy make out in the garage" she whispers in my ear.

"Shit" I say while wiping my lips.

"Yeah we all know your games Santana. I think it was completely obvious what you two were going to get up to because you do it all the time. You sneak off with some excuse when really you're having sex or something" Eva states.

"Why is it such a big deal to you anyway?" I ask.

"It's not, all I'm saying is we all know what you're doing so you might want to not be so obvious about it unless you don't get embarrassed easily" she tells me. The truth is I do get embarrassed easily but what's done is done.

"Excuse me, is that another beer?" I ask turning away from Eva as Dylan and Brittany's brother Ben walk into the room.

"No it's the same one" Dylan shrugs.

"There's no way it took you that long to drink one beer" I say raising a questioning eyebrow at him.

"Ok so it's my second but in my defence Maribel said it was ok since it was Christmas and it's a time to have fun" Dylan replies.

"Is that so Maribel?" I ask looking over at my mom.

"I've told you before Santana to address me as mom only. Maribel is for everyone except my kids and grandkids" my mom states.

"I'll call you Maribel when I feel it's appropriate" I smirk.

"Well this isn't appropriate" my mom replies.

"Yes and neither is giving a 16 year old alcohol" I point out.

"Exactly" Ben says smirking at me. I'm glad he agrees but I don't understand the need for the smirk.

"So does this mean I can't have this second beer then?" Dylan asks confused.

"You can have it, we won't tell anyone" Ben states. "I mean it would be hypocritical of Santana to say no because she did ply Brittany with alcohol when she was underage."

"I did not" I shake my head. "On an occasion I would turn the other cheek because she was my girlfriend and I wasn't going to deny her a small drink" I point out. I didn't repeatedly give her alcohol all the time.

"Exactly" Brittany nods while putting her arm around my waist.

"So moving on, rumour has it that Dylan has a crush on Jessica" Ben says smirking at Brittany and me.

"No I don't" Dylan replies defensively while shaking his head.

"Look if you do Dylan then it's ok" Brittany assures him. I mean I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that myself but at the same time I can't judge either.

"But she's older than me" Dylan points out.

"Oh that's no issue in this family. My sister will have taught you well no doubt Dylan on how to get an older woman" Ben states smirking at me.

"Yes Britt did lust after quite a catch back in the day" I smirk back at him playing his game.

"Brittany was 16 when she started going after Santana so I don't see why you couldn't give this a go with Jessica if she were to like you back" Ben states.

"Guys, he has a crush on her it doesn't mean he is like super into her or something" I tell them all.

"Yeah and I very much doubt she'd be interested in me" Dylan shakes his head.

"Never say never" Brittany smiles. I suppose she'll know better than the rest of us since she's good friends with Jessica.

XXX

"I love you" I whisper in Brittany's ear as I finally sit down at the table with everyone to eat.

"I love you too" she smiles.

"Are you ok?" I ask. She got me a little worried earlier because I didn't realise some of her insecurities were playing on her mind again.

"Yeah" she nods. "It was probably my hormones or something getting a little crazy. They're a little bit all over the place since I'm still breastfeeding at the moment" she states.

"Well I mean any time you need me to prove how sexy you are then let me know and I'll be more than willing to give you a hand" I smile. "Take that in whichever way you want" I add with a smirk.

"Excuse me what are you two whispering about?" my mom asks presumably a little annoyed we're whispering and being rude in front of guests.

"Just my crazy OCD behaviour, I keep thinking I have left the oven or something on but Brittany was just assuring me that I didn't" I state. It's a little random but it was the first thing that popped into my head.

"I see" my mom nods, satisfied with my answer.

"I know you're worrying about me but I won't do anything stupid, I promise" Brittany assures me.

"Ok" I smile while reaching out to her to gently squeeze her knee in reassurance.


	39. Boring

Chapter 39: Boring

Brittany's POV

I'm meeting up with a few of my college friends today to catch up. I've spoken to Jessica a lot recently but our other two friends Melissa and Zoe haven't caught up with us in a while so we thought it would be nice to all get coffee together somewhere. Aiden and Ella are coming with me because Santana has some stuff to do plus Melissa and Zoe haven't met Ella yet so it'll give them a chance to meet her.

"It's not like you and I to be the first ones here" Jessica says as she and I arrive in the café with Aiden and Ella. I'm carrying Ella in her car seat while Jessica is holding onto Aiden's hand.

"I know" I laugh. Jessica and I both have a tendency to arrive late when we're meeting up. My excuse is usually the kids whereas I think Jessica is just a last minute kind of person so she's always rushing around right before she has to leave.

"We might as well grab a table anyway" Jessica points out.

"Yeah" I nod and then we find a table to sit at. We talk for ten minutes before our friends arrive.

"Shall we order some drinks then?" Jessica suggests.

"Yeah" Melissa nods. We decide what we want and then Jessica goes over to the counter to grab our coffees.

"So this is Ella then?" Zoe asks while smiling down at Ella.

"Yes this is her" I smile at my daughter. "And of course you know Aiden" I say while looking at Aiden sitting on the chair between Jessica and I, playing with his cars.

"So how old are you now Aiden?" Melissa asks.

"Two" Aiden yells while holding up two fingers.

"That's right but remember we use inside voices inside" I smile at him.

"So did you have a party for his birthday the other day?" Zoe asks.

"We sort of have a joint family gathering last weekend where we celebrated Santana's birthday and Aiden's but also had some family over on Tuesday" I reply. Santana's birthday was a week ago on Wednesday and Aiden's birthday was a few days ago on Tuesday.

"That's nice" Zoe nods.

"So it's Saturday today, what are your plans tonight?" Melissa asks changing the subject slightly.

"I've got a hot date actually" Zoe smiles. "We're getting dinner and if it all goes well then we might hit a club or two."

"Sounds good" Melissa nods. "What about you Brittany?" she asks turning towards me.

"I'm not really doing anything exciting to be honest" I shrug. "I'll just be at home with the kids and Santana."

"Sounds awesome" Melissa laughs.

"I know it sounds boring to you but I'm a mom now" I shrug again. I kinda like my life at the moment. Maybe it's not partying every night but I love being with Santana and the kids.

"Yeah just because you're a mom doesn't mean you can't have a social life" Zoe points out.

"I know but I can't just drop everything to go out partying" I state.

"Can't your parents have the children tonight?" Melissa asks.

"No they're both working night shift tonight" I reply.

"What about Santana's parents then?" Zoe asks.

"No they've got Santana's sister's daughter for the night who is the same age as Ella and they've also got Santana's brother's son who is almost 9 months old" I say. I couldn't ask them to take Ella and Aiden as well because that would be them looking after a two year old and 3 children under the age of one.

"Ok, fair enough" Melissa shrugs. "So Jessica what about you, any exciting plans for tonight?" she asks.

"No not really" Jessica shakes her head.

"Have you got a secret child that you need to look after?" Zoe asks laughing.

"No I just haven't made any plans that's all" Jessica replies.

"Well my friend from work is throwing a party tonight if you want to come" Melissa tells Jessica.

"I don't know, I think I might just rather have a quiet night in" Jessica replies.

"Oh come on, live a little. You don't have any kids to look after so why not come to the party?" Melissa asks.

"I don't need to have kids to be able to have one quiet night to relax without partying" Jessica states offended. I've got to say I was beginning to get a little offended myself.

"Ok, sorry for offering" Melissa says rolling her eyes at Jessica.

"Let's move on" I suggest and the other 3 nod.

"So are we all still up for going out next Saturday?" Zoe asks. The four of us had planned to go out for some drinks and just have a fun night.

"Yeah totally" Melissa replies.

"Yeah me too" I reply. "Although I did think maybe I could invite some of my other friends and Santana and it can be like an early birthday celebration for me" I say.

"Don't you want a night away from your wife where you can let loose?" Melissa asks.

"No, not really" I shake my head. Santana and I get plenty of time away from each other so I was really hoping she would come out with us next weekend and have some fun.

"Who else were you thinking of asking?" Zoe asks.

"Mercedes, Rachel and maybe Santana's best friends from school, Kitty, Quinn and Tina" I reply.

"I don't really know them all that well" Melissa points out.

"Um…ok" I say confused. I'm getting the feeling she doesn't want my other friends to join us next weekend.

"You'll get to know them though if we all go out together" Jessica states.

"Aren't they all in their thirties or something?" Zoe queries.

"Yeah" I nod. "I mean Santana is the oldest since she's just turned 32 but the others are all 31" I reply.

"Is being over the age of 30 an issue for you?" Jessica asks looking at Zoe and Melissa.

"Not exactly but they'll probably be more reserved than us since we're all 23 or 24" Melissa replies. "I'd hate to have too much fun and be judged or something" she adds.

"You two are really pissing me off today" Jessica says shaking her head. "What is the big deal in asking a few extra people to tag along with us?"

"We're just saying they're all older than us so they might not like us having too much fun" Zoe shrugs.

"For goodness sake, they're older than us but not old. They're not 80 or something, I highly doubt they'll judge us having fun" I state.

"Ok but there's also the fact Santana is your wife" Melissa states.

"What about it?" I frown in confusion.

"Well it can't be much fun trying to party and have a good time with your wife being there. That would be like inviting my boyfriend along or something on a girl's night out where he can watch my every move" Melissa replies.

"Yeah you can't really have fun with your partner sitting right next to you" Zoe adds.

"Of course I can. I wouldn't get up to anything that I shouldn't either way" I state. Whether Santana was there or not, I wouldn't act any differently because I'm happily married.

"Seriously, what is going on with you two today?" Jessica asks confused. "You're acting as if Brittany and I are so boring and that Brittany's other friends would be unwelcomed to join us next weekend."

"So if you were taken, would you bring your boyfriend with you?" Melissa asks Jessica.

"I wouldn't not want him there but at the same time, I don't know if there would be any other guys there so he might not want to come" Jessica points out. I guess my situation is slightly different since Santana and I are both women but at the same time, the principle is the same. Neither Jessica nor I would do anything that would offend our partners so it shouldn't matter if they come or not.

"Fine, if you want to invite other people then you can" Zoe sighs.

"Do you know what, let's just forget about it" I state annoyed.

"So just back to the 4 of us then?" Melissa asks.

"No I mean forget about going out together. I don't think I want to spend the weekend before my birthday with you two when I could spend it with less judgmental people" I shrug. "I think Jessica and I can just go out with my other friends and Santana" I state. I don't want to spend a night out with people that don't even want my wife to join us.

"You do what you want then but Jessica can still come out with us because she wasn't thinking of rudely bringing other people to a night out that I planned" Melissa states.

"No I'll pass" Jessica states.

"If I had arranged for us to go out and you wanted to invite a few close friends then that would be absolutely fine with me because there's nothing wrong with all of us getting to know each other" I state. "But if you don't want my wife or my other friends to come then I don't want to go either" I say.

"Fine" Zoe huffs. The four of us then fall into a bit of silence.

"Mommy?" Aiden says after a minute or so breaking the silence between us.

"Yeah buddy?" I say looking down at Aiden.

"Tired" Aiden replies while getting off his seat and climbing onto my knee, wrapping his arms around me tightly.

"Ok well we're just going home now anyway" I tell him. "Are you still riding with me Jess?" I ask Jessica.

"Yeah if you don't mind" Jessica replies. I then get the kids sorted and then Jessica and I leave with Aiden and Ella. "That was so weird with those two" Jessica says shaking her head as we get into the car.

"I know" I nod in agreement. "It's like as soon as we all left college they suddenly became very rude or something. I mean you don't feel the same way about my friends and Santana, do you?" I ask.

"Of course not, I like Santana and your other friends" Jessica assures me.

"I like your other friends too" I tell her.

"We should definitely all go out next weekend like you suggested because we can celebrate your birthday then" Jessica states. "It can just be a girl's thing or we can invite boyfriends too, I don't mind."

"I definitely want Santana to come but we can ask the others what they think" I say. My parents have already offered to babysit so Santana and I are still free next weekend so we should all go out.

XXX

As soon as I dropped Jessica off at her place, the kids and I went straight home. When we got inside, I got them sorted and put them both down for a nap. I just hung out on my own for a while since Santana wasn't home right away. She's just came through the front door now so I've went to the hall to meet her.

"Hi baby" I say while wrapping my arms around Santana's waist and nuzzling my face into her shoulder.

"Hey" Santana says while dropping her purse and rubbing my back gently. "You seem down about something, are you ok?" she asks.

"Jessica and I had a bit of a disagreement with Melissa and Zoe today" I reply.

"What happened?" Santana asks while pulling away slightly and gently moving a strand of hair from my face.

"It sounds stupid but it kinda annoyed me" I sigh. I then go on to tell her the whole story about how they think Jessica and I are boring and how they didn't want anyone to join us next weekend.

"Well I didn't really want to hang out with them anyway" Santana states with a shrug.

"I mean what exactly did they think I was going to do with you not there. Fuck a guy or something in the toilets?" I shake my head.

"I wouldn't put it past them" Santana states. "I mean that's obviously what they would do if they had a boyfriend and didn't want him to come."

"Surely just because we like hanging out in the same company of friends doesn't mean we're weird or anything" I say.

"Of course it doesn't" Santana replies. "I like it when our friends mix and we get to all hang out together" she tells me.

* * *

Santana's POV

Tuesday 25th January 2022

"Thank you" I smirk at Brittany after taking a bite out of her toast.

"Get your own babe" Brittany laughs.

"I can't be bothered making anything right now, I'm exhausted" I say honestly. "Aiden and I have just had words because he won't keep his shirt on. I'm trying to get him dressed for the day but he kept taking his shirt off each time I put it on.

"Has he finally kept it on now?" Brittany asks.

"Yeah but only because I told him I would get you to come upstairs if he didn't keep it on" I state.

"Honey…" Brittany shakes her head at me. "You can't say that each time he does something he shouldn't. You need to be just as firm with his as me" she says.

"I know and I am trying but it's taking time for him to listen to me so sometimes I need to get you involved" I admit. I am getting better at being more of a disciplinarian but sometimes he just doesn't listen so the only way is to involve Brittany.

"How do you discipline him when I'm a work?" Brittany asks curiously.

"I don't know really. I think the longer it goes on the more bored he gets so he eventually stops" I say. Maybe I just have more patience when I'm alone because I know Brittany won't be able to discipline him since she's not here so I know I can't give up. When she is here then I think I get worked up easier because I want Britt to know I can parent him properly but it just doesn't look like it.

"Speaking of our son, where is he?" Brittany asks curiously.

"He was following Dylan around the last time I checked" I laugh. It's so cute how fascinated he is with Dylan sometimes. "Dylan said it was ok to leave Aiden with him so I did and I went to take care of Ella. She's been fed and burped and now she's sleeping again."

"That's good" Brittany nods. Just as I go to make myself some breakfast, Dylan walks into the room with Aiden getting a piggyback from him.

"Breakfast time sweetheart" I tell Aiden as Dylan carefully places him down on a chair. "What do you want?" I ask him.

"Chocolate" Aiden replies clapping his hands.

"Not for breakfast Aid" Brittany tells him. He frowns at her before looking over to me.

"How about some cereal?" I suggest. He doesn't look happy with the suggestion but he nods anyway.

"Ok, I'll get right on that" I smile while leaning down to kiss his head.

"Aiden, come here buddy" Brittany says while going over to the side with Aiden. "I know you like messing with mom but that wasn't nice this morning refusing to get dressed. You have to do as she says ok?"

"No" Aiden replies giggling.

"Yes you do" Brittany says giving him a warning look.

"We won't be playing with the cars today if you don't follow my rules" I tell him. He looks at me curiously for a moment before turning back to Brittany.

"Mommy" Aiden says looking up at Brittany wondering if I'm serious or not.

"If mom says no cars then it's no cars" Brittany shrugs.

"Fine" Aiden sighs before walking away towards Dylan.

"Excuse me, we're not done" Brittany tells him. He just glares at her before folding his arms and letting out a huge huff. "He is so like you right now" she laughs looking at me.

"Baby that's not helping right now" I sigh. We need to make him aware I am just as important as Brittany at disciplining.

"I'm sorry, he is literally a mini Santana when he glares" she says smiling fondly at Aiden. "Anyway, back to the task. Aiden when mom says something then she means it ok so if she tells you not to do something then you mustn't do it" she says seriously.

"Sometimes mommy makes up rules but you have to remember that I also make up rules so we must all follow them, ok?" I say to Aiden. "Mommy and I are both the parents here and we're equal so you have to do what we both say."

"Ok" Aiden replies after a moment.

"These rules don't just apply to you. They apply to Dylan and Ella too" Brittany says. "If mom says don't do something then not only you but Ella and Dylan must also not do it."

"Do you understand buddy?" I ask and he nods.

"The rules actually apply to me too so if I do something I shouldn't then I get punished too" Brittany says. "When I'm naughty mom gives me a punishment just like you, Ella and Dylan all get a punishment for bad behaviour" she tells him.

"Mommy's punishment is very different though" I whisper in Brittany's ear causing Brittany to blush.

"Sorry" Aiden mumbles while unfolding his arms and holding his hands up in the air at me.

"It's ok" I smile at Aiden while lifting him up and hugging him.

"So we're all good in here?" Brittany asks while kissing Aiden's cheek.

"I think we are" I say smiling at Aiden.

"Ok so I need to get ready for work now but I'll be back down to say goodbye" Brittany smiles at me.

"Ok" I smile back.

"I'll check on Ella on my way upstairs" Brittany says and I nod. She then leaves the room and I go back to sorting Aiden's breakfast.

"Did I ever mess around when you looked after me as a kid?" Dylan asks curiously as he begins eating his breakfast.

"Just as much as any child would really" I shrug. "I think you played up with your parents more than you did with me" I point out.

"It's funny because I can only remember good times hanging out with you but I can't think of anything exciting I did with my parents as a child" Dylan shrugs. I feel quite bad because it sounds like he didn't have the most fun childhood.

"I know you're older now but if you want to do anything in particular then we can do it. I can't imagine going to the zoo will be as fun now that you're a teenager but if there's anything you want to do then we can or I can buy you tickets for a game or concert and you can take your friends" I tell him. I don't think I wanted to hang out with my parents at 16 so I understand he might not want to so I'm cool with getting him something he wants and he can do it with his friends.

"No you don't need to do that" Dylan shakes his head.

"I want to" I smile at him. "Honestly if you want to do something then let me know and we'll sort it out" I say.

"Ok, I'll think about it" he smiles. "I mean I've not got a lot of time at the moment to do fun stuff because if I'm not busy at school I've got soccer or basketball practice."

"Well when you do get some time off, just let me know" I tell him honestly.

"Ok" he nods.

"Speaking of basketball practice, what time is your game tomorrow?" I ask. His school and another school are competing tomorrow.

"5pm but I'll likely stay at school instead of coming back here" he states. "Once classes finish, I want to get a bit of practicing done before the game starts" he tells me.

"That's cool, we'll just see you at school then" I nod.

"Wait, you and Brittany are coming?" Dylan asks surprised.

"Well we were planning on it but if it's too embarrassing then we don't need to go. I mean I don't suppose you want two overexcited adults screaming on the side-lines" I laugh.

"No it's not that" Dylan shakes his head. "It's just my parents never go to my high school games so I'm just surprised you would want to come."

"Of course we do" I smile. "Although Brittany is still teaching me some of the rules at the moment so I don't know too much. I wasn't into sports at school really" I say.

"Are Aiden and Ella coming?" Dylan asks curiously.

"I don't know" I say unsure. "My parents said they would watch them but I think Aiden would like to go so I don't know what to do. I don't really know if taking Ella is a good idea because she's so young and might cry through the game putting you guys off."

"Maybe just take Aiden then and when Ella gets older she can come to my games" Dylan says.

"Yeah I might just leave her with my mom" I nod. After talking for a bit, Brittany walks back in and says her goodbyes before leaving for work. Dylan then leaves shortly after to head to school so it's just Ella, Aiden and me left.

XXX

After Brittany got home from work and Dylan's basketball practice finished, we all sat down to dinner together. Brittany and I then hung out with the kids for a while before putting them to bed while Dylan went outside and practiced some more for his game tomorrow. He seems to be doing really well with basketball again which I'm glad about because after his fall I wasn't sure what kind of headspace he was in especially when he couldn't practice for a week or so.

"Babe" Brittany says walking out of the bathroom.

"Hmm" I say while taking my earrings out at the dresser.

"That talk with Aiden this morning has made me realise that you don't punish me enough Santana for bad behaviour" Brittany says smirking at me.

"I have to agree" I say while walking over to her and wrapping my arms around her waist.

"I unfortunately have some free time right now so if you feel it's necessary to punish me then go ahead" Brittany shrugs.

"I mean I hate taking that free time away from you but it really is about time we got some order around here. I think you need to be aware of the rules and you need to start realising I run this house" I state. "What I say must be taken seriously" I add.

"Should I be down on my knees right now begging you to not punish me?" she asks.

"I would much rather you were down on your knees begging to be punished rather than not be because you know it's the right thing after disobeying me for so long" I smirk.

"That's a fair point" Brittany nods while capturing my lips in a passionate kiss.

"Not so fast" I smile while pulling away. "I need to actually punish you baby and by the looks of things kissing me seems to do the opposite."

"Is this punishment something I must do or something I must not get done to me?" she asks curiously.

"Well I could tease you a little or I could demand you do something super sexy for me" I say unsure of how to play this. It all depends which is more frustrating for her and the least frustrating for me. I mean I could withhold sex but that's a punishment to me too so that won't work. I could also tease her a little but again that doesn't benefit me too much.

"How about you tell me what you want and I'll do it" she smiles. "Anything at all you want me to do then I'll do it."

"Ok" I nod with a smile.

"While you're thinking it over then I could help you out of those clothes" she smiles while gently removing my shirt. She then slowly runs her hands over my upper half caressing every piece of skin she can. "I'm so turned on just looking at how sexy you are" she says while leaning down to place a few kisses to my neck.

"I feel like we should just cut to the chase and go to bed" I say starting to get turned on. I can't help but tilt my head back so she has a bigger area to kiss.

"I can do that" she smiles while running her hands through my hair before kissing me. "I need to undress you first" she says while pulling away slightly to unzip my pants.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Brittany hasn't long got home but we're upstairs getting ready for Dylan's basketball game. Ella is already with my parents and Aiden is still taking a nap. Dylan didn't come home like he mentioned so he's still at school practicing.

"I have been so bad today, I think I need another punishment" Brittany says while wrapping her arms around me from behind.

"Ok well be prepared for your punishment later" I smile while putting my necklace on at the mirror. I know it's only a high school basketball game but I want to be the hottest parent there…well beside Britt obviously.

"I was sorta thinking you could give me it now" she smirks at me through the mirror.

"Baby not right now" I say regrettably while turning around to look at her.

"Oh come on, don't be so boring" she shakes her head.

"I'm not being boring, I am being practical" I reply. As much as I would love to be with Britt right now, we do have things we need to take care of right now. Aiden needs to get his dinner and I want to phone my mom and check in on Ella.

"Ok" Brittany nods.

"I promise we'll have time later together" I assure her.

"It's just more fun when it's spontaneous and we don't need to schedule sex" she sighs.

"I know baby but tonight it just has to be that way. We've got plenty of time to have spontaneous sex whenever we want. This is just one day" I smile.

"Ok" she smiles back.

"We're going out at the weekend so we've got the whole night after that" I say. Brittany's parents are having Ella and Aiden, and Dylan will be away for the weekend playing a soccer game this time. They're competing against a different high school from tonight and it's in a different city so they're spending the night there.

"That's us still scheduling it though" she points out.

"I know but what else can I do Britt" I say honestly.

"I'm sorry" she shakes her head. "Last night was just fun and I miss us suddenly just jumping into bed whenever we want. I realise we can't do that often so I am sorry" she points out.

"Come here" I smile while pulling her closer. "We have our whole life together, this is just a busy week ok so don't overthink it" I say while leaning in to kiss her.

"I love you" she smiles.

"Love you too baby" I smile back before continuing to get ready again. As soon as we are ready, we get Aiden up and get him some dinner before heading to the basketball game.

"Dylan" Aiden says excitedly while pointing over to the other end of the gym.

"That's right" I nod.

"So where shall we sit?" Brittany asks while looking around.

"I'm good with sitting closer to the front so Aiden can see what's going on" I say and Brittany nods. We then find a seat close to the front. Not too close that a ball could attack me but close enough that I can see Dylan playing.

"Oh look at the cheerleaders over there" Brittany says. "It reminds me of my high school days on the cheerio's" she says smiling fondly.

"Surprisingly it feels like just yesterday I was here and cheerleading with Quinn before rushing off to make our glee club meeting" I say.

"I know what you mean" Brittany says laughing at the thought. It was always so hectic being in both glee and the cheerios.

"So what happens in basketball?" I ask curiously. I know I was a cheerleader but that didn't mean I paid any attention to what sport I was cheering for or how it worked.

"You basically just need to put the ball in the hoop" Brittany shrugs. Both her brothers dabbled a bit with basketball back in the day so she's picked up a few of the rules. "I mean there are certain rules you need to follow but the basic aim is to score points by getting baskets."

"Should I invest in a little hoop for Aiden?" I ask.

"Honey, you have just attached a basketball net to our garage for Dylan so I think Aiden can use that when he gets older. I don't think you need to buy him more toys" Brittany replies.

"But what if he wants to start early?" I ask. He can hardly start practicing just now with that big ass basketball hoop that Dylan has.

"If you want to buy something small then you can but don't buy an expensive thing. Just as little plastic hoop will do until he gets bigger" she points out.

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Friday 28th January 2022

I was playing outside with Aiden this morning when something just went in my back. I think I moved the wrong way or something but it was fucking sore I tell you. I've been walking around the house all day like I've wet myself of something because it hurts to walk normally. As soon as Brittany say me in pain, she decided to give me some physio to do.

"So you just bent over and it went?" Brittany asks curiously while gently beginning to massage my back to get a feel for where is sore.

"Yeah" I nod. "I literally bent down to pick up Aiden's soccer ball when a pain just shot through me" I say.

"You hurt your back at school didn't you?" she asks.

"Yeah one day in glee we were practicing a particular dance move and I hurt my back. Ever since then it can sometimes just go if I move an inch the wrong way" I shrug. It hasn't happened in a long time though so I thought it had finally strengthened or whatever.

"Did it hurt enough for you to scream in pain?" Brittany asks.

"Not exactly" I shake my head. "It was more of a yelp really" I add.

"Did Aiden laugh?" she asks.

"Yes" I reply confused. "How did you know he would laugh?" I ask.

"Because I can just imagine you yelping in pain and making it into a bigger drama than it has to be" Brittany says laughing. "I love you baby but you can be a little over dramatic at times."

"It hurt like a bitch Brittany but thank you for your sympathy" I say while turning around so I'm not lying on my front any more getting the massage.

"Don't be childish baby" Brittany smiles at me.

"It really did hurt" I whine.

"Ok well let me sort that out for you" she tells me. "Lie back down on your front please but lose the shirt this time" she says.

"Lose the shirt?" I question raising an eyebrow.

"Yes because I can hardly get into the area with material covering it. This is strictly professional baby so don't worry I'm not going to take advantage" she smiles. I then lie back down. She then straddles me while going back to massage my back.

"I wouldn't mind if you did take advantage" I shrug.

"Like I say, this is professional" she states.

"How professional because I don't like the thought of you sitting on people at work like this" I tell her. I know I wouldn't want someone straddling Brittany like this so I can't imagine her patients' family like their partner being straddled.

"Ok so I don't straddle my patients but what I mean is that this is a professional technique that you can do for back injuries" she replies. "I don't give my patients massages but I do sometimes refer them to sports therapists or masseurs when the injuries require an approach more like this than actual physical stuff."

"So you don't put your hands on naked pieces of skin?" I ask.

"Not really unless you're talking about a bare arm or leg but there's nothing sexy about that" she replies laughing. "My patients are fully clothed during physio unless I'm examining an injury before figuring out how to proceed."

"Ok good" I nod.

"Whoa, I'm sorry" Dylan apologises while turning around embarrassed after walking into the room. "The door was open so I just wanted to give you the details about my trip at the weekend but I'll talk to you later."

"It's not what it looks like" Brittany laughs. "I'm doing some physio on Santana because she's got a bad back today."

"Yeah there is nothing remotely romantic about this" I sigh in frustration.

"I told you to tell me if it hurt" she states seriously while standing up.

"I didn't want to offend you" I state while putting my shirt back on.

"You wouldn't offend me because it's meant to hurt a little so if it does then it's not actually me that's hurting you" she replies.

"Ok" I shrug.

"Old age doesn't come itself you see Dylan so you and I have that to look forward to" Brittany smirks at me.

"Enough of the old, Pierce" I say playfully glaring. "Anyway Dylan, tell us more about the plans for tomorrow" I say turning to face Dylan.

"Well we leave in the afternoon in the bus and then we'll get there around seven in the evening. We'll then have dinner and maybe hang out before heading to our rooms. Then on the Sunday we've got an early practice before the game and then we travel home" Dylan replies.

"I assume you'll behave" I say to Dylan.

"No he told me he was going to hook up with all the cheerleaders. Sex settles his nerves you see before a game" Brittany smirks at me.

"Yes I'll behave and so will my friends" Dylan replies while laughing at Brittany.

"Good" I smile.

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Saturday 29th January 2022

Brittany, myself and some of our friends are at a bar right now having some drinks. We're just starting off low key but I don't know where we'll end up. Even though we've only been here half an hour, I'm having one of the best times tonight. Brittany and I don't usually get to just go out and have fun especially not with friends. I mean when we first met, Brittany wasn't 21 so we could never really go to bars and clubs and then after she turned 21 we didn't really get a chance to go out before she got pregnant with Aiden. After that we became parents so our time alone was very limited and when we were just getting into a good routine she ended up getting pregnant with Ella so we very seldom get to go out.

"Hey, do you want to dance?" Brittany asks walking over to me where I am sitting talking to Quinn and Tina.

"My back is still a little sore right now but maybe once I've had a few more drinks I'll dance with you" I smile.

"Ok" she nods. "Tina you'll dance with me and Jessica won't you?" she asks looking at Tina.

"Sure" Tina shrugs before going with Brittany.

"So I know my back isn't quite right but what's your excuse?" I ask Quinn.

"I'm not much of a dancer" Quinn shrugs. "I'm sure when Kitty, Mercedes and Rachel get back from the bathroom they might dance with Brittany and the others."

"Yeah maybe" I nod.

"So what's going on with you these days?" Quinn asks curiously. With us both being parents then we don't get to hang out as much as we'd like.

"Not much" I shrug. "Just living life happily and quietly" I tell her.

"Brittany not pregnant yet then?" she smirks at me.

"Quinn, don't" I shake my head. It's a little bit of a sensitive subject because all my friends know I've always wanted a big family but at the same time I really can't have Brittany freaking out. I'm happy with two kids at the moment so I don't want her to think I'm not.

"I'm only teasing you" she laughs.

"I know you are but I don't want Brittany to get freaked out by this" I tell her. "We're both really happy right now so I don't want her to think we need to have more children when we really don't. I do want a big family but if we don't have any more children then I'm completely ok with that."

"Ok" Quinn nods, satisfied with my answer.

"What about you and Jason, how are things?" I ask. Since he's my brother I really hope I get a clean answer but at the same time we are best friends so I want her to talk to me if things aren't ok.

"They're really good actually" Quinn smiles. "I know it didn't seem like we'd work in the beginning but I think we finally are working and we're happy."

"That's good, I'm really pleased for you" I smile.

"Speaking of happy, you and Brittany seem great at the moment. I mean judging by the way she couldn't keep her hands off you earlier, you're even more in love than ever" Quinn states.

"I mean we've came through a lot of issues emotionally so I'm so thankful we're in a happy place now" I admit. Don't get me wrong, we weren't ever unhappy but sometimes we'd be dealing with a few things so we were worried about one another. I've always loved Brittany but I can't be at my happiest when I'm worried sick about her.

"I'm happy you're happy too" Quinn says genuinely.

"Hey, ready for a dance yet?" Brittany asks skipping over to me with the others following closely behind.

"I don't want to make a fool of myself so maybe we should leave the dancing until we go somewhere else. This place is a little too quiet for my liking" I reply. I mean it's busy enough but this isn't a place that many people are dancing at so once we go somewhere a little more upbeat then I'll dance. I don't want to show myself up in here where everyone can see but if we go elsewhere then I can get lost in the crowd.

"Ok well let's finish our drinks and then get going" Brittany smiles.

XXX

"Dance with me now" Brittany says after downing another shot and slamming her glass down on the table. "Come on" she whines while pulling on my arm.

"Fine" I say laughing while standing up from the table. "Aren't you all coming?" I ask the others. If I'm about to make a fool out of myself then so is everyone else. I mean it's not like I can't dance, it's just Brittany is a lot better than me so it looks like I can't.

"Fine but the minute you two get too handsy then we're sitting back down" Quinn states.

"I agree" Jessica nods.

"Don't worry, we'll keep it clean" I smile at them.

"Speak for yourself Lopez" Brittany states seriously. "My wife's in the hottest dress ever, she looks as sexy as hell and she's about to dance with me so I'm going to dance the shit out of this place."

"Ok" I laugh. I think Brittany is starting to get a little tipsy now.

"Come on then" she says while tugging me towards the middle of the floor. She puts her arms around me and we begin swaying to the music. It's a bit of a slow song right now so there's not much dance that would suit the tempo.

"Are you having fun?" she asks me.

"Of course" I smile. "Although you seem to be having a lot more fun than the rest of us at times" I laugh.

"That's only because you all nurse your drinks for hours whereas I drink mine at a reasonable speed so I'm like 5 glasses ahead, not to mention Jess and I have had numerous shots throughout the night" she smiles at me. As soon as the song ends and more upbeat one comes on, Brittany lets go of me and starts dancing around me.

"Britt, what are you doing?" I ask laughing.

"I'm dancing" she shrugs.

"I know but I meant…you know what never mind" I laugh again.

"Dylan asked me out the other night but I wasn't sure what to say but I talked to Brittany and she said it was cool so I'm going to text him and say yes" Jessica states drunkenly walking over to us.

"Um…ok" I reply. I don't know what else to say because I'm not sure how I feel about it. I mean Dylan can do what he wants but at the same time he is 16 and I feel slightly protective over him. His parents are idiots so I feel I should step in at times and fill that role. I mean I have no issues with Jessica but she is one of Brittany's friends so I don't want things to go wrong and it all gets awkward. I mean it's similar to when Quinn and my brother started together.

"Anyway I'll leave you to it" she says before spinning around and dancing her way across the room.

"You're sexy" Brittany smiles while patting my butt before continuing to dance around me. After a while, she starts grinding on me and doing some other questionable dance moves which makes me feel a little uncomfortable. I mean in the privacy of my own home it's a completely different story but I don't really like it in public when everyone is staring.

"Come on babe, get into it" Brittany smiles while turning around and kissing me.

"Honey, I don't like this kind of attention we're getting. It's just not me" I say honestly.

"Fine" she shrugs while stopping what she's doing.

"I'm sorry, I just…"

"I'll see you back at the table" she states while grabbing Jessica's hand and pulling her away. Ok, she's just being childish now. I'm all for dancing with her but just not like that with such a big group of people watching.

"Fucking hell" I say while shaking my head as I sit down at the table with some of our friends. They all stopped dancing long before I did.

"What's wrong?" Tina asks.

"Brittany marching away with Jessica in a huff because I didn't like the attention we were getting" I state.

"The dancing did become a little risqué" Quinn points out.

"I'm not a prude or whatever but I don't want to do that in public. Plus this isn't the kind of place for that I wouldn't say" I reply.

"I think Brittany has just had a little too much to drink, I wouldn't take it personally" Mercedes says trying to reassure me.

"I don't but I still don't like the thought of her getting pissed when she's had so much to drink" I reply. I hadn't realised just how many more drinks Brittany and Jessica had than the rest of us until it was too late. I just assumed they were always dancing but I think half of the time they were away they were at the bar.

"She's got Jessica though so she's not alone" Rachel states.

"Yeah but Jessica is three sheets to the wind as well" I say shaking my head. Neither of them are going to be any good to one another in their state.

"Let's just call it a night then" Kitty says.

"Yeah let's find them both and take them home" Quinn nods.

"Yeah" I agree. We all grab our things and then go to find where Brittany and Jessica are on the dancefloor. As soon as we do see them, my rage starts building up inside.

"Santana stay calm please" Quinn warns me.

"Stay calm?" I question annoyed. "My fucking wife is up there shirtless dancing on the table with guys drooling over themselves. Not to mention, she has a few dollar bills hanging from her bra" I say. I can just imagine us turning up 5 minutes later and her skirt is off and she has the dollars hanging from her panties or something as well.

"Brittany, honey come on" Rachel says softly while holding her hand out to Brittany.

"Does anyone want to see some more skin" Brittany shouts delightedly to the crowd while putting her hands behind her back to unclasp her bra.

"Brittany don't even bother" I say shaking my head at her.

"I'll do what I want" she shrugs while moving her hands thankfully. She continues dancing for a few more minutes, ignoring everything I say to get her to stop.

"Are you going to take off your bra or what?" one guy asks.

"If she won't I will" Jessica smirks.

"Why don't you both do it" the guy smirks at the two of them.

"That's enough, don't be so fucking disrespectful" I say glaring at the man.

"They offered to do it, jeez what is your problem" the man asks glaring back at me.

"Brittany get down from there right now" I say angrily, ignoring the man.

"Yes mom" she replies laughing while stepping down from the table with my help.

"Is she really your mom?" another male asks shocked.

"Yeah" Brittany smirks at me.

"Wow she is super fit" the man says looking at me.

"I'm not her mom you idiot, I'm not even that old" I glare at him.

"It's true, she's really young" Brittany nods.

"So if you're not her mom then why do you want to her to come down so badly?" he asks.

"Because it's not right what she's doing" I state.

"Just because you're not into women doesn't mean you can't appreciate the lovely show" the man states.

"For your information, I am into women but that doesn't mean what she is doing is ok" I say shaking my head.

"You sound like a right riot, who the fuck are you anyway?" he asks.

"She's my wife and she loves me" Brittany says giving me a slopping kiss on the cheek.

"Oh I get it, she doesn't give you enough attention so you had to dance like that to get the attention from others" the man says to Brittany.

"Fuck off" I say shaking my head at him before turning to the others. "Girls will someone get Jessica down from there before she loses anything else. She's just sent her bra flying across the room."

"Yep, we're on it" Quinn says as she and Tina rush over to try and coax Jessica down from the table.

"You've just had a baby Brittany, this isn't on" I tell her while trying to put her shirt back on.

"Just because I'm a mother does not mean I can't have fun" she states. "The kids are with my parents tonight so there's no harm done."

"I don't mean it like that" I state.

"I want people to notice me again" she sighs. "I don't want to be a 23 year old mom all the time. I mean yes I want to be a mom but I don't want people to know me as only that. I'm much more than a mom, am I not?"

"Of course you are and I want you to have fun but tonight was too much fun. You were dancing on tables and guys were drooling just watching you" I say.

"I only wanted you to find it sexy but I guess you didn't" she says sadly.

"Brittany it's not fun for me watching people get turned on by you" I shake my head.

"I don't deserve you Santana" she sighs.

"We're not going to that place again babe because you know how much you mean to me" I tell her. "Look Rachel has called us all cabs so we're going home" I say.

"Um…I don't think it's going to be that easy" Quinn says as she and Tina try to hold Jessica upright.

"No it should be ok because I think Jessica's sister is staying with her at the moment so she'll be in safe hands. We just need to drop her off home and her sister can deal with the rest" I state.

"Ok well Kitty, Tina and I will take Jessica home and Rachel and Mercedes can ride with you and Brittany to get home" Quinn replies.

"Sounds like I plan" I sigh. "Come on Brittany, we're going home" I say while getting her off the seat and helping her to the door while the others follow behind.

"I'm getting the feeling we won't have sex tonight" Brittany whispers in my ear as I keep a tight hold of her around her waist.

"You're damn right we won't" I state.

"I hate it when you're mad at me" Brittany sighs.

"So do I but I can't just pretend you weren't dancing on tables etc." I tell her. I knew this was too good to be true. I could just tell this happy state would disappear eventually and Brittany would just crash. It's all thanks to those two bitches she used to be friends with in college. I just knew their opinions would make Brittany question things. She is probably dancing around like she was because she thinks they think she's boring.


	40. I'm Sorry

Chapter 40: I'm Sorry

Santana's POV

After dropping Mercedes and Rachel off at their apartments, the cab driver then took Brittany and me home. The whole ride was quite awkward if I'm honest. Mercedes and Rachel could see I was pissed so they knew not to say too much to me and give me some space but Brittany being as drunk as she was, didn't exactly realise just how pissed I was. She kept chatting to us and even the cab driver about random things that would come into her head. I wasn't completely rude and ignored her but at the same time I wasn't inviting a huge discussion either.

I would say Brittany and I are walking towards our house but it's more me walking while pulling Brittany along behind me. I stop for a second to get my keys out to unlock the door but Brittany again being as drunk as she is, keeps on walking.

"I feel like maybe I should take the couch tonight" Brittany says while walking into the door.

"You're supposed to open the door before you try to get inside" I tell her while unlocking the door and then pushing it open.

"Right, yeah" she says going into a fit of giggles. "You always know how to make me laugh" she tells me while rubbing her forehead where she hurt it on the door.

"You usually make me laugh too but tonight was no laughing matter" I tell her as we walk inside. I then close the door behind us and lock it again.

"I think I upset you and I never wanted that to happen" she says quietly.

"You need to try and drink lots of water so your hangover isn't too bad in the morning" I say while walking to the kitchen with Brittany following closely behind.

"Ok" Brittany shrugs while going over to the fridge to get a bottle of water out. As she starts to drink it, her aim goes a little off and she ends up pouring more water down her front than in her mouth.

"Brittany, come on" I say while rolling my eyes. I know she's drunk right now but it's frustrating me so bad. "Drink slower if you're coordination isn't right" I say while getting her some paper towels to wipe up some of the water.

"I'm usually really good handling things in my mouth" she says while smirking at me slightly before wiping some of the water from her chin.

"Oh really, I can't say I ever noticed" I shrug. I'm not giving her the satisfaction right now of thinking she can just joke around with me.

"Come on, you know you like it when I…"

"Stop!" I say seriously. "Just stop, ok?" I sigh.

"Sorry" Brittany apologises while sitting the water down before stumbling over to me. "Please don't be mad at me until you hear me out."

"I don't want to talk about it tonight" I shake my head.

"Alright well I'll explain everything in the morning once we've had some sleep" Brittany nods. "I didn't mean to hurt you tonight though."

"Not just now" I say shaking my head again.

"Ok well we should probably sleep now" Brittany replies while leaning in to kiss me. However I turn my head away before she can catch my lips leaving her kissing my cheek.

"That mad huh?" she says while taking a deep breath. "The couch it is for me then" she sighs while stumbling out of the kitchen and into the living room.

"You're not sleeping down here" I say while quickly following her.

"Why, I mean you're angry with me" she says frowning in confusion.

"Would you leave me downstairs on the couch where I could roam about in the middle of the night drunk?" I question. She needs to be close to me so I can keep an eye on her so she doesn't take a walk and go outside or something. In her drunk state, anything could happen.

"Of course not" Brittany frowns.

"There's your answer then" I state while heading towards the stairs. "Brittany are you going to bed?" I ask while turning around to look at her when I notice she isn't following me.

"Yeah" she nods.

"Go upstairs then" I tell her.

"I was just giving you some space. I didn't think following you around was the right way so I was going to give you 10 minutes to get yourself sorted before I came up" she states.

"Like I just said, I can't leave you alone right now" I reply.

"Saying that would usually make me blush but somehow I don't think you mean it in the way I'd like you to mean it right now" she states.

"Please just go upstairs" I say while pointing to the stairs. Brittany looks at me for a moment before rolling her eyes and then walking up the stairs. As soon as we walk into the bedroom, she flops down on the bed face first.

"Goodnight Santana" she says while closing her eyes.

"You can't go to sleep like that, you need to change" I tell her while walking over to the bed.

"I can't be bothered changing" she states.

"You also need to brush your teeth" I add.

"Does my breath smell?" she asks while frowning.

"It doesn't smell the best after the amount of liquor you had" I say. "Plus you should really brush your teeth at night regardless of whether your breath smells or not" I shrug.

"Ok" Brittany sighs while getting off the bed and stumbling towards the bathroom. She then picks up my toothbrush and squirts some toothpaste on it.

"That's mine" I say while taking the toothbrush from her. "Yours is the blue one remember" I say while handing her the correct toothbrush.

"Sorry" she apologises while putting some toothpaste on the other brush. We both then start to brush our teeth. Ideally I did want to change before I did that so I didn't put toothpaste all over my dress but since Brittany had practically prepared my toothbrush for me, I figured I might as well just clean my teeth.

"Can you do that at the sink please because I just cleaned in here this morning so I don't want dripped toothpaste all over the floor" I say as Brittany starts dancing around as she brushes her teeth.

"You're very bossy tonight" Brittany says while gently nudging my arm and smiling.

"I'm not bossy, I am just giving you some direction" I tell her.

"Get down from the table Brittany, put your shirt on Brittany, come to bed Brittany, brush your teeth Brittany, do that over the sink Brittany…yeah I would say bossy" she shrugs.

"Well you're acting like a child not an adult" I state.

"I understand I messed up tonight but sometimes you can be slightly uptight about things" she replies. "I'm not saying it to hurt you, I'm just saying I'm almost 24 so I'm still young and I still think I can have a little bit of fun when the kids aren't here."

"I'm not stopping you from having fun" I assure her.

"No but you're stopping yourself from having fun which you don't need to do. I mean so what if you're a little older than me, you should still be able to have fun with me. I tried to dance with you tonight and you clamed up" Brittany replies while finishing up cleaning her teeth.

"I was uncomfortable with what you were doing" I admit. "It was too much for a public display" I say while putting the toothbrush away.

"You're the sexiest girl I know so there is no reason to feel uncomfortable. I couldn't care less who saw me, I just cared about you" Brittany shrugs. "There was no reason for you to be embarrassed about dancing with me because you're incredibly sexy when you dance."

"You're not getting it Brittany" I shake my head.

"Ok well tell me…"

"I just want to go to bed so can we do that please and talk in the morning?" I ask, interrupting her.

"Ok" Brittany sighs while walking over to the bed. "Sleep well" she says while climbing into bed.

"Brittany…" I sigh. "We agreed you'd change before going to bed so let's do that please" I tell her. I know I seem like a pest but she's not going to be comfortable sleeping in what she's wearing.

"I really don't have the energy for it" Brittany sighs.

"I'll help you then" I say while rolling my eyes before grabbing some pyjamas for her to wear. I then make my way back over to her. "Come on then" I say while waving the pyjamas in front of her when she just sits there looking at me

"What?" she asks with a shrug.

"You need to lift your arms up Brittany so I can get your shirt off" I say. "It should be easy enough to do since you've had it off and on the whole night" I mumble.

"Ok" she sighs again before lifting her arms in the air. I then remove her shirt and put her pyjama top on once she removes her bra. I then unzip her skirt and she kicks it off.

"Here are the pants" I say while holding them out to her. She just looks at me once more.

"Surely I don't seriously need to take your panties off for you?" I say rolling my eyes. Usually that would sound sexy but this situation is not sexy whatsoever.

"Yeah" she replies smirking at me.

"Do you know what, forget about the pants and just go to sleep like that" I state. I'm not playing games anymore. She's drunk but not drunk enough that she can't remove her underwear.

"Ok" she nods before getting comfortable in bed. "I love you" she mumbles.

"I love you too" I tell her. I know I'm mad but not saying 'I love you' back I think would just give her the wrong message. I'm pissed off but of course I love her. I don't want her to think I don't especially in this mental state.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Sunday 30th January 2022

I'm just in the kitchen alone, sitting by myself drinking a cup of coffee. I woke up a few hours ago and did think about doing some chores since Brittany is in bed and the kids aren't home but I decided against it. I didn't have nearly as much to drink as Brittany last night but I still had a decent amount so I've got a bit of a hangover so I'd rather just relax.

I can't stop replaying last night over and over in my head. I'm not really sure how I feel about the whole thing. I mean one minute I feel like maybe I was overreacting slightly but the next minute I feel like I was right to feel like that because my wife was dancing on tables shirtless with guys drooling over her.

"Morning" Brittany grumbles as she walks into the kitchen.

"How are you?" I ask.

"Not great and it's nothing to do with the hangover" Brittany sighs. "I'm sorry for how I was behaving last night."

"Last night was not fun for me" I tell her honestly.

"I really didn't mean to make such a spectacle of myself or you for that matter" she admits while walking over to the coffee machine.

"I don't really understand what happened" I say. We've both got a bit tipsy before but never once has it led to dancing on tables and stripping.

"I had way too much alcohol and I let my emotions get the better of me" she says while sitting down. "What Melissa and Zoe said really got to me more than I thought it had and then that coupled with the drink made me just explode I guess. I turn 24 in a few days but I'm not ready to let go of having fun. The girls made me feel like shit and made me feel like I don't know how to have fun anymore."

"I thought that might have been the case" I nod. I mean I don't know how I didn't see something like this coming.

"Me dancing on tables and taking my shirt off had nothing to do with getting guys' and girls' attention. That was purely about me" she states.

"I know it was" I smile slightly. I know 100% that Brittany doesn't want anyone else but me.

"I just wanted to feel young and carefree for a minute but I know I took it too far and I'm really sorry" she says honestly. "Not to be conceited but I'm still young and hot so I wanted to show everyone that after having two kids I've still got somewhat of a decent figure."

"I agree, you are hot" I nod. "But personally I felt you went a little overboard last night just showing everyone how hot you were" I shrug.

"When I have too much to drink, my mind runs away from me and I do stupid things" she states. "I know it's not an excuse but I honestly couldn't help it once I had all those drinks."

"You nearly showed your breasts to all those guys in there" I tell her.

"I know but I was never really going to do it" she admits. "Plus I don't think anyone was sober enough to really comprehend what I did."

"I was" I say shaking my head.

"Santana I was never going to lose my bra; I was just teasing you" she sighs. "I know I said I was hot but I don't think I'm hot enough to be comfortable baring my breasts in public. As for the dollar bills, I put them there myself. Not once did I let someone touch me."

"That's a slight relief, I have to say" I nod. I'm not happy but I'm a little less unhappy knowing no one got as close to her as I thought they had.

"I was pissed last night because my friends said I was boring and then you didn't like dancing with me so that's why I got up there on those tables. I wanted to prove to myself that I can still have fun" she admits.

"I had to change your clothes like you were a child last night" I tell her. "Despite what you might have though last night, I was not your mom nor do I wish to be."

"When I called you mom, I was trying to make a joke because you were telling me what to do. In no way do I think of you as my mom. You're my wife and right now you're being the most amazing wife ever putting up with me" she replies.

"Compliment me all you want but it won't make me overlook things about last night" I state.

"I'm not doing it to butter you up; I am saying these things because they're true" Brittany points out.

"Fine, whatever" I say waving it off.

"Can we talk about you not wanting to dance with me because clearly we had two different issues with it last night?" Brittany asks.

"You are a great dancer Brittany and very sexy when you dance too but it made me uncomfortable when people were looking at us" I tell her.

"I could understand this reaction if I danced with someone else like that or if you didn't usually like it but you do. You normally really like it when I dance with you getting all sexy and stuff" she smiles.

"Yes in the privacy of my own home" I sigh. "Girls and guys were watching us and it made me uncomfortable. It reminded me of high school when girls would make out with other girls for a laugh or to get guys attention. I don't make out with girls for a joke, that is my life and I don't need it publicised."

"Honey we're not in high school. I very much doubt anyone gave a shit" Brittany shakes her head.

"I just told you people were staring at us" I state annoyed. It's like she's not listening to me or something.

"I hear you babe but I think you're overreacting a tad because I didn't see anyone remotely interested in what I was doing to you. I mean yes the guys were drooling a bit when Jessica and I danced on the tables but when I was paying attention to you I don't remember anyone looking" she tells me.

"I felt uncomfortable, please respect that" I sigh again.

"Ok I'm sorry" she says while placing her hand on top of mine. "Do you know what I think this is?" she asks.

"What?" I ask while shrugging my shoulders.

"I think you don't realise how attractive you really are" she states.

"Excuse me?" I ask confused.

"I touched on it last night babe but I feel like maybe you think you're too old to have fun or whatever" she states.

"I have no idea what you're talking about" I shake my head.

"Clearly we know there is an age gap between us but that doesn't mean you're old or can't mess around in the way I do. You're an insanely attractive woman who is still extremely young" she replies. "Yes you're a mom now to two kids but that again doesn't mean you can't have one crazy night out with your wife. Do you think your parents stayed home knitting after you were born or do you think they had some fun night outs together?" she asks.

"What are you trying to say?" I ask.

"I am trying to tell you that you have nothing to feel embarrassed or uncomfortable about. I'm also trying to say that you're crazy sexy so no matter who was watching or not watching us, it shouldn't matter because you should have the confidence to not give a fuck basically" she tells me.

"Ok" I nod.

"Look you know I struggle with my self-esteem so I've been kinda good at picking up things from myself that I can now see in you" she states. "All I'm saying is you really have nothing to feel uncomfortable about. I mean to be honest with you, the kids weren't sent from angels in the sky so for them to be here you did have to get kinda sexy."

"Is this your way of saying I'm boring?" I ask. I'm not sure I agree with what she's saying or really understand.

"No it's not" Brittany shakes her head. "All I am saying is just because you're a mom does not mean you have to act professional all of the time. Yes it would be ideal when the kids are around but when they're not then you don't need to think, 'oh I'm a mom, I can't do that'. Like I keep saying, you're a very attractive person so you don't need to hide away just because we have children."

"Ok, I understand now what you're saying" I nod. I'm beginning to think she does have a point here because it's only natural that couples like couples time every now and again so when the kids aren't around I probably could be less uptight.

"Look I know I went too far so I understand you're still mad but keep in mind what I'm saying" she smiles.

"I am still pissed but I think there is also an element of truth in there. Maybe I do act differently now that I have children" I shrug.

"I know I have a lot of making up to do so how about I start with breakfast. Can I make you something?" she asks and I nod. We pretty much spend the next while in silence as Brittany finishes cooking and we begin eating.

* * *

Brittany's POV

Oh my goodness, I majorly fucked up last night. The one thing I never want to do is hurt Santana and I have. I just let my emotions get on top of me so when I had too much to drink my judgement became clouded. Instead of stopping at the dancing, I ended up going one step further and took my shirt off. I probably wouldn't like Santana doing what I did either so I can totally get where she's coming from. To be fair though, I have been in love with Santana since I was 16 or whatever so she's the only person I've really been with. I've never had those crazy drunken nights at college or snuck off to high school parties so I've never really fully had a night out where I've went crazy. This doesn't excuse what I did but I think we all do silly things when we're drunk. I just wanted to feel young and carefree for a minute but I never planned to do anything that would affect my relationship.

"Are you finished eating?" Santana asks looking over at me.

"Yes but let me clear up. It's the least I can do" I smile while taking the plates over to the sink.

"Ok" she shrugs. "I think I'm going to grab a shower before Aiden and Ella get home."

"I'm guessing company is out of the question?" I say while turning around to look at her.

"You're guessing correct" she smiles before exiting the room. I can see she's still mad which is ok because I don't expect anything different. On the other hand though, I don't think she's quite as angry as she could be so maybe we have come to a slight understanding. What I did was wrong but I didn't cheat on her or anything so I think we're ok for the moment.

As soon as Santana finished in the shower, I quickly took a shower before helping her to tidy things up before the kids got home. We caught up with my parents for a bit and then they left to do their own thing. I love my kids but they've only been home for 15 minutes now and my head is pounding with the noise and my hangover.

"There you go, mommy will be more than happy to sing along with you" Santana says while placing our screaming son on my knee.

"Thank you" I mutter sarcastically.

"You're welcome" Santana smirks before leaving the room. She left me with Aiden on purpose because she knew his loud screaming would irritate my already sore head.

"Ok buddy, remember what mom told you about singing?" I ask him and he shakes his head. "You have to let the words flow, you don't scream them" I say. He has a tendency to scream songs rather than sing and actually listen to Santana when she is teaching him how to sing.

"Mom said scream" Aiden giggles.

"Oh I see, mom told you to scream your songs this time" I nod. It makes sense actually. What better way to punish me than to rile up our son and have him screaming in my ear.

"Ok well I think you've screamed enough now so how about we sing the song properly?" I suggest.

"Ok" Aiden screams in excitement.

"We're going to sing quietly, ok?" I say and he nods. We then sing some of his favourite songs together while I pray internally that he gets bored soon so we can stop.

"Brittany can you put Aiden down for a second and take Ella" Santana asks while walking into the kitchen with our screaming daughter this time. "I need to make up a bottle for her but she won't stop screaming so I can't put her down."

"Aiden why don't you sit on your own chair and play with your cars just now" I say while placing Aiden on the seat next to me. "Mommy just needs to look after Ella for two seconds" I tell him.

"Ok mommy" Aiden smiles while playing with his cars.

"Why are you screaming sweetheart?" I softly ask Ella as I take her from Santana.

"She's not going to answer you" Santana states.

"Yes I know that babe" I say rolling my eyes at Santana. Ok I fucked up but this is becoming childish now.

"I'm just saying" Santana shrugs.

"Dylan!" Aiden screams suddenly.

"No Dylan isn't…oh you are home" I say surprised. "I thought you weren't getting home until later" I add.

"We weren't supposed to but we lost the game last night so no one really wanted to stick around any longer than necessary" Dylan sighs.

"Oh that's a shame, was it a close match?" Santana replies while preparing Ella's milk at the same time.

"I mean it was 4-1 to them but I feel like we lost more than they won. We made some silly defensive errors so the goal was wide open for them to score. I managed to score the loan goal for us though" Dylan says with a shrug.

"These things happen I suppose. I mean sometimes the losses teach you more than the wins" I tell him.

"Yeah I mean I'm pissed we lost but at the same time, it's not like it means too much. It's not like it was a major competition and we just got eliminated" Dylan says trying to keep upbeat about it.

"That's true" Santana nods.

"Anyway, enough about me. Did you all have fun last night?" Dylan asks.

"Well…" Santana laughs. "This is going to be an interesting story for you" she states.

"It is?" Dylan asks confused.

"Aiden and Ella had a great time at Brittany's parents' house which was good" Santana says and Dylan nods. "However, I didn't have such a great time last night but apparently Brittany had the time of her life."

"Santana, please" I say shaking my head. I don't mind her filling Dylan in on everything but I don't want a negative atmosphere in front of Aiden and Ella.

"What happened?" Dylan asks worriedly.

"Brittany got drunk, got up on a table and danced and then started stripping" Santana states while taking Ella from me. "Also, I'm apparently her mother now which is all kinds of weird and horrific" she frowns.

"O-k" Dylan says not really sure what to make of all this.

"Anyway I'm going to feed Ella in the other room" Santana states while walking towards the door. "Aiden are you coming with me or do you want to stay here?" she asks.

"You" Aiden yells while jumping off his chair and running after Santana. It seriously never gets old just how cute Aiden and Santana are together.

"Is someone in the doghouse?" Dylan asks laughing.

"It's not funny, I really overstepped the mark this time" I shake my head.

"I really don't think Santana is that bothered by it" Dylan states. "I mean I can't say she'll have liked you dancing and stripping on tables but she doesn't think any less of you."

"I really didn't mean to piss her off" I sigh.

"She won't hold this against you" he states.

"I know and that's what frustrates me. She is way too forgiving towards me sometimes" I admit. I love that about her don't get me wrong but at the same time, I kinda like being put in my place a little. I know it sounds weird but Santana has gave me everything and sometimes I feel like maybe she needs to be firmer with me and make me realise what I'm doing.

"Come on, you would forgive her just the same" Dylan points out. "You two are one of the strongest couples I know so I wouldn't let some silly drunken night worry you. Plus I'm pretty sure my mom and Santana had a few wild nights back in college."

"She didn't piss off her girlfriend though, did she?" I ask.

"She might have done, I don't know" Dylan shrugs. "Look, Santana means a lot to me but I'd be lying if I said she wasn't milking the situation slightly. Yes she's mad but there were worst things you could have done. I think you just need to show her how much you love her and give her some extra attention. I mean you're not going to do what you did last night again, are you?"

"No, never" I shake my head. "So I want to ask something, is she more mad about the stripping or the calling her mom because I'm not quite sure."

"I'm guessing both together are making her mad" Dylan shrugs.

"I can't take back what I did so I don't know how to put things right. I mean I can show her how much she means to me but other than that how can I make it right?" I ask confused. I really didn't mean what I did but I can't take it back either. I'm going to do everything I can to prove how sorry I am but I don't know if that's enough for her.

"I don't know but showing her how much you love her is at least a step in the right direction" Dylan states.

XXX

While Santana was watching the kids and Dylan was doing some homework, I took the opportunity to sneak out and run a few errands. I've just got back now so I'm making my way inside to see where everyone is.

"Brittany is that you?" Santana whispers from the living room.

"Yeah" I say, frowning in confusion at why she's whispering.

"Can you be a little less loud then please because the kids are in the other room sleeping?" she states.

"Sorry" I apologise as I walk into the room. "So…uh…these are for you" I say smiling as I walk over to Santana.

"Flowers?" Santana asks.

"Yeah" I nod.

"This doesn't fix what happened last night" she tells me.

"I know that but I'm trying to prove to you how sorry I am. I never meant to behave the way I did. I was just upset" I reply.

"How many times do I need to ask you to come to me when you're upset?" she asks.

"I know I should communicate more but it's just who I am. I let things build up inside of me and I just explode when it all gets too much" I say honestly. I'm not proud of what I did but I can't undo it.

"I want you to trust me and let me help you" she states.

"Santana I do trust you, why wouldn't I?" I reply.

"If you trusted me then you would have confided in me" she points out.

"That's not fair" I shake my head. "Trusting someone and being embarrassed are two separate things. I trust you with my life but it doesn't mean I'm able to tell you every embarrassing thing about myself."

"Embarrassing? What are you talking about?" Santana asks confused.

"I have a never ending list of issues so sometimes I don't want to voice them all aloud because it's embarrassing. You're my wife not my therapist so sometimes I don't like loading all of my crap on you. It doesn't make me feel good being so weak and insecure all the time and I don't like you seeing me like that either" I reply. My friends made me feel like shit but at the same time I didn't want to unload that on Santana when she and I have been really happy recently. I didn't want to lower the tone between us because I loved how great things were going and we were both happy.

"I don't see you as weak Brittany, I never have" Santana states.

"Ok well I'm sorry, again" I sigh. "I just can't do anything right anymore, can I?"

"You don't get to be mad right now, I'm the one who is pissed off" she tells me.

"I'm not doing this for attention, this is just who I am" I sigh. I don't want to feel like this or be this insecure all the time, it just seems to be who I am.

"I'm going to check on Aiden and Ella" Santana states while leaving the room. I just take a deep breath before deciding what to do next. Once I have come up with a plan, I make my way upstairs to find Dylan.

"Hey, how's the homework coming along?" I ask him curiously.

"Not great actually, I've just got no concentration tonight" he sighs.

"Why don't you leave it until tomorrow night then" I suggest. I know he's a good kid and always keeps up with his school work so I don't mind him leaving some until the next day.

"Yeah I might do that" he smiles.

"Ok so here comes the cheeky part" I smile. "I know you have school and practice and a life but can you look after Aiden and Ella tonight?" I ask Dylan. It's too short notice to ask my parents or Santana's parents. I do feel bad asking Dylan but I really need to put things right with Santana.

"Of course" Dylan smiles.

"Ok thank you" I say surprised. I didn't think he would just say yes right away. "I'm going to take Santana out for a little bit where we can talk just the two of us. We won't be late though so don't worry if the kids don't go to sleep early because we'll be back soon enough" I tell him.

"Honestly, take all the time you need. I know you want to put things right so do what you need to do" he smiles.

"Thank you" I smile back. "Hopefully I'm still married by the time I get back" I joke.

"Of course you will be" Dylan replies. After I run through a few things that he might need to know about the children, I then make my way downstairs to find Santana.

"Babe we're going out just the two of us" I say while handing Santana a sweater and taking her hand to lead her to the door.

"Brittany we have the kids to look after" Santana sighs while shaking her head.

"Dylan is looking after them so please come with me" I tell her.

"Fine" she sighs while following me. "Just wait a second though until I put the sweater on because it's cold" she states and I nod. Once she's ready, we leave.

"So…"

"Are we walking?" she interrupts me while looking confused.

"Yeah I thought it would be more therapeutic than taking the car" I shrug.

"Ok but if it gets too cold then I'm turning back" she tells me.

"If it gets too cold, you can have my sweater too" I say.

"But you'll be cold" she points out.

"Honey I couldn't care less about me right now, I just want to fix this with you" I reply. She doesn't say anything, she just nods her head. We continue walking in silence for the next 10 minutes or so.

"Where are we going?" Santana asks curiously, breaking the silence between us.

"I'm not really sure" I admit. "I was just seeing where my feet took me" I say. I hadn't really thought of where we could go, I just thought being anywhere just the two of us would help us talk.

"Ok" Santana nods as we keep walking.

"You mean the world to me Santana, you have to know that" I say while turning my head to look at her.

"I do know that but when you're drunk you can't disrespect me like that" she tells me.

"I made a mistake ok, please accept I never meant to hurt you" I tell her. "I have never in my life did something like that before so doesn't that say something. I don't go around stripping in bars for strangers to see. I got really drunk and took my shirt off."

"Do you understand how that makes me feel?" Santana asks looking at me.

"I do because I know how much I would hate it if you did what I did" I reply. "Can you give me another chance?"

"Brittany I am upset with what you did but you can't think I'll break up with you every time something happens" she states. "You don't need another chance but you do have to make this up to me because it made me feel like shit."

"I promise I will put things right" I smile. "I love you more than I've ever loved anyone so when I do things, I never want them to affect you."

"I get that but it still felt like slap in the face last night, especially when you called me mom" she admits.

"Santana I never think of you as my mom" I shake my head. "I only said it because the way you were talking was like a mom. I'm not used to you telling me off for things so I was making a joke."

"I love and care for you but I never want to mother you, that's just weird" she states.

"I know and I don't want you to be like a mom to me either" I reply. Of course I don't want that and I've never thought like that either. I literally just called her mom because she was telling me what to do and I was drunk.

"It's getting cold now, are we going to keep walking?" Santana asks.

"I'm happy to go home as long as you know how sorry I am" I say. "I don't expect you to be ecstatic about everything but I want you to know I am trying to make it right."

"I know you are" Santana sighs. "Let's just go home" she says.

"Ok" I nod. We then make our way back home. Slowly I move closer to her and gently take her hand in mine. I'm actually quite surprised she didn't pull away and that she gripped my hand tighter.

* * *

Santana's POV

Tuesday 1st February 2022

I'm still not back at work yet and Brittany took a few days off work this week so we're getting to spend her birthday as a family today. Things have been ok between us because I'm getting over what happened at the weekend and I can tell Brittany is really trying to make up for it. She made me breakfast in bed yesterday and looked after the kids the whole day so I had some time for myself. She even brought me coffee in bed this morning and got the kids ready even though it's her birthday.

We're having a bit of a family gathering this afternoon at home to celebrate Brittany's 24th birthday. All the family are coming over and some of our friends are coming too. It's not necessarily a party since it's in the middle of the week and a lot of them are working tomorrow but we have put together a buffet for everyone and Brittany will open her presents too.

"Happy birthday boozy" Puck says smirking at Brittany as he and some of our other friends walk in.

"Oh come on guys, why did you have to delight Puck in my antics at the weekend?" Brittany groans.

"He's one of our good friends so we couldn't lie to him" Mercedes smirks.

"Yeah sure, that's why" Brittany says rolling her eyes.

"So how is everything now, I know you weren't very happy Santana?" Tina asks.

"Everything is fine" I shrug. I don't really want to go into things in too much detail because it's between Brittany and me.

"Did you give her a pretty hard time Santana?" Sam asks nosily.

"I…" I don't get a chance to reply since Brittany interrupts.

"Santana was great about it as usual" Brittany smiles at me. "She just gets more and more amazing every day." I am so thankful she stepped in because like I say, I don't really want to discuss this too much because it's a personal thing.

"I thought she would have been super pissed" Jason shrugs.

"To be honest, as much as it's my birthday and I'm glad you all came, I just want to address a few other things right now about it" Brittany says. "I need to apologise to you girls because my behaviour at the weekend was not ok and not only did I embarrass myself, but I embarrassed all of you."

"Honestly, we're not even that bothered by it" Mercedes replies.

"Yeah I mean you were just having fun" Rachel shrugs.

"Too much fun I think" Brittany sighs. "Anyway I also just want to say how grateful I am to have Santana. She puts up with me and all my issues when she shouldn't have to and I just don't know how I can ever live up to her standards. I couldn't put up with me if I was her so I just want to say how sorry I really am and how much I really love you" Brittany says honestly while turning to look at me.

"Britt, we don't need to talk about this now" I assure her.

"No I want to apologise again because I want to make sure you know how much I didn't mean to hurt you" she says while taking me to the side so we can talk more privately.

"Brittany don't apologise for who you are" I say shaking my head. "Yes I was pissed at the weekend but you don't need to apologise for the way other people make you feel. You have battled some real emotional stuff so as much as I hated what happened at the weekend, I can't be mad at you for mentally struggling with some stuff."

"I still shouldn't have let things get this far though. I should have just told you I was upset and maybe I wouldn't have had all those drinks and embarrassed you" she states.

"I agree you should have talked to me and I am glad you apologised for what you did but I don't expect you to apologise for how Melissa and Zoe made you feel" I say.

"Aren't you fed up with all my bullshit though, there's always something to worry about" she replies.

"Everyone has issues. I mean I have issues to but they don't make you love me any differently" I tell her. My issues are not the same as Brittany's but they're still there.

"Nothing could stop me from loving you" she smiles.

"I feel the same" I smile back. "We may get pissed at each other along the way but I think we're both strong enough to know we love each other and that's not going to change" I tell her.

"I'm still going to make things up to you though because what I did wasn't ok" she replies.

"Ok" I nod.


	41. Love

Chapter 41: Love

Santana's POV

Friday 4th February 2022

"Thank you for seeing me this morning" I say gratefully. "I wasn't sure how it worked because you were Brittany's specialist so I didn't know if you could help me or not" I add as I sit down in front of the therapist.

"I'm happy to help either of you" the therapist smiles. "So what's going on at the moment?" she asks curiously.

"Well there was a slight situation last weekend and I don't think it was handled in the best way" I admit. I don't think Brittany or I went about things the right way so I need some advice today.

"What happened?" she asks. I then go into detail about what happened at the weekend when Brittany got drunk and how we dealt with things the next day. "How do you feel about things now?" the therapist asks.

"I feel like I was too hard on Brittany last weekend which I didn't want but at the same time, I feel I had some right to be upset" I admit. "It's not the fact that she was drunk that upset me, it was more what she did when she was drunk that got to me."

"Is there a particular thing that annoys you or was it everything together?" the therapist asks.

"I don't know, it's hard to explain" I say. "I just didn't like the feeling I got that night where she was stripping in front of everyone and completely ignoring me."

"You were married before you met Brittany weren't you?" she asks.

"Yeah" I nod.

"What was that marriage like?" she asks.

"It wasn't great but I don't suppose our age helped either. I mean we met at 23 and were married by the time we were 24" I say.

"Isn't Brittany 24 right now so she would have got married at 21?" the therapist points out.

"Yeah but that's different" I state.

"In what way?" she asks curiously.

"Well I've certainly matured now and I have experience plus Brittany is quite mature for her age. I mean sure she does what other 24 year olds would do but on the whole she's a lot more mature than I was at 24" I reply. "Jen and I had no business getting married when we did because neither of us were that grown up whereas with Brittany it's different. We both wanted to be married and didn't jump right into it."

"So why did you and Jen end would you say" she asks curiously.

"My ex-wife cheated on me" I reply. "I mean that's not the only reason we broke up because she didn't fully admit to cheating on me until a lot later but I always knew there was someone else" I shrug.

"Do you still feel hurt by that?" she asks.

"I mean, it's hard to say" I shrug. "A part of me is like I shouldn't care anymore and another…"

"Why do you think you shouldn't care anymore?" the therapist asks interrupting me.

"Because I'm Brittany's wife now, not Jennifer's. She is a part of my past so I shouldn't let it affect me because it's irrelevant now" I reply.

"Ok" the therapist nods.

"Like I say though, sometimes I feel like I am still hurt. I mean it's not a nice feeling to know you committed to someone 100% and they treated you so harshly" I say.

"It is ok to still feel hurt by that because what you just said is completely true. When you do put that much work into a marriage and the other person doesn't, it's hard" the therapist agrees.

"I don't care about Jen anymore but I think I'll always have that insecurity in me unless I find a way to move past it" I say honestly. I don't want to think about Jen anymore but the way she made me feel still stays with me.

"Are you ever concerned that Brittany will do the same thing?" the therapist asks.

"Oh god no" I shake my head. I'm confident in that aspect of my marriage that Brittany and I would never do something like that. "I can say with certainty that neither Brittany nor I would ever cheat on the other."

"I'm not just talking about cheating" the therapist replies. "I mean in general, are you ever worried that Brittany might do something that could hurt you or make you feel the way you did when you were with Jennifer."

"Not really" I shake my head again. "Maybe I use the term 'hurt' a little too loosely because I can't say Brittany has ever hurt me. What happened at the weekend annoyed me but I think maybe hurt is too strong a word" I say honestly. Brittany has never made me feel the way I did when I was married to Jen.

"Ok, I understand" the therapist replies. "So back to what happened at the weekend, what do you think annoyed you the most?" she asks.

"I suppose it was the thought of all those people seeing Brittany the way I'm meant to only see her. Also the fact the guys were all drooling over her and egging her on didn't make matters better" I say.

"Do you go on vacation a lot?" the therapist asks.

"Um…" I'm not really sure how to answer because that seemed very random to ask right now.

"I know it seems a random question but it'll make sense in a second" she smiles. She obviously noticed the confusion on my face.

"I mean now and again we go away together. We've never had the opportunity to take Ella since she's only 3 months old but we've been on a family vacation last summer and have took Aiden a few trips" I reply.

"So have you perhaps went to the beach or sunbathed by the pool?" the therapist asks.

"Yeah, quite a few times" I nod. We like those kind of relaxing trips rather than doing activities every day.

"Ok so there's an opportunity there for you and Brittany to wear bikinis and such like in public, correct?" she asks.

"Yeah there is" I reply.

"Ok so I'm assuming the issue at the weekend is more to do with being drunk at the same time rather than being about the way Brittany was dressed" she points out.

"Crap…" I sigh. "I have majorly overreacted haven't I?" I shake my head. I shouldn't be pissed about Brittany taking her shirt off when clearly I'm comfortable when we're at the beach together or something.

"That's not what I'm saying at all" the therapist assures me. "I'm just trying to get to the bottom of what the issue actually is."

"Ok" I nod.

"Do you ever think there's a correlation between your first marriage and your marriage now?" she wonders.

"My first marriage was a disaster so I guess sometimes I might come on too strong about situations because I just want everything to be ok so badly. I don't want to make the same mistakes I did in my first marriage because I can see that being married to Brittany means a lot more to me than it ever did when I was married to Jen" I admit.

"Are you scared of having another failed marriage?" she asks.

"Yes, I mean wouldn't anyone be" I shrug. "The difference is that it's not about how I look or what people might think about me; it's about how much this marriage is worth fighting for. I don't care what people would say about me being divorced twice or whatever, I'm more concerned about ruining one of the best things I've ever had in my life."

"Ok" the therapist nods.

"People can call me whatever they want but if my marriage broke down I wouldn't be cut up about being a failure. I would be devastated that something so special that was worth fighting for didn't make it. Being married to Brittany and having her in my life is one of the best things I've ever had so if I screw that up then I know it'll be the worst moment of my life" I state. I know that fighting for my first marriage didn't matter to me but my marriage to Brittany is everything.

"So on the subject of failed marriages, do you feel that it could happen if you don't fight for it?" the therapist asks.

"I don't see us struggling right now but at the same time we do need to work on a few things. I'm not about to walk out on Brittany and I know she isn't about to end things either but I don't think we're being as open as we could" I reply.

"So if things do carry on without intervention then you think problems could start?" she asks and I nod. I mean we're ok at the moment but if we don't communicate better then years down the line things could just blow up and of course I don't want that. "Let's fix that then" she smiles.

"Yeah so how do I do that?" I ask.

"It's not just you Santana" she tells me. "I know you feel bad for the way things reacted after the weekend but I wouldn't say you're completely to blame. I would say you both need to work on a couple of things."

"Just a couple?" I laugh.

"Honestly you're being too hard on yourself" she tells me honestly. "I haven't seen Brittany in some time but I can honestly say you and Brittany have nothing to worry about. Just a few issues need ironed out and I think you'll be ok."

"Yeah I hope it's not too much we need to do because I hate fighting with Brittany and I know she hates it too" I say.

"You're both still young so as much as Brittany shouldn't have went as far as she did, it's not actually a surprise. It's not ideal but it is typical behaviour that sometimes you get too drunk and you're judgment becomes clouded" the therapist replies. "However I will help you both through it so don't worry" she smiles.

"Thank you" I smile back. For the rest of the session we talk through a few things and she tells me some ways Brittany and I could communicate better.

"Come back and see me anytime if you need to talk about anything" the therapist smiles.

"I will, thank you" I smile back and then leave. Once I'm in my car, I head straight home. As soon as I drive along the road, I notice Brittany's car parked outside in the drive obviously meaning she is home already. I park my car next to hers and then quickly head inside. I'm feeling a lot better about things now so I'm looking forward to having Brittany to myself for an hour or so before I need to pick up the kids.

"Hey, it's me" I announce my presence as I walk inside.

"I'm in the kitchen" Brittany replies so I make my way to the kitchen.

"Hi" I smile at her as she washes some dishes at the sink.

"Hey" she smiles back before going back to what she was doing.

"How was work?" I ask.

"Same as usual really so I'm just glad it's the weekend now" she says while finishing up with the dishes and turning around to lean against the counter.

"I'm glad it's the weekend too" I smile.

"Where's Aiden and Ella?" Brittany asks curiously.

"Still with my mom" I reply while taking my jacket off before walking over to her. "Dylan is at basketball practice so he won't be home until later either" I say while unzipping her sweater.

"What are you doing?" she asks sheepishly while watching my every move.

"You" I shrug.

"But why?" she asks while subconsciously tilting her head back as I kiss her neck.

"Why?" I chuckle slightly. I don't know why she would need to ask me why I would want to do that.

"Yeah, I mean aren't we still fighting or something" she shrugs while looking away from me.

"We were never fighting" I shake my head. "A situation occurred and we had to deal with it but I wouldn't say we fought about it."

"Ok" she nods.

"I'm still so madly in love with you" I say while gently turning her head towards me again so I can kiss her.

"Yeah me too" she smiles as we pull away from the kiss.

"You too are what, still so madly in love with yourself or you feel the same way about me?" I ask teasingly.

"I'm still so madly in love with you" she laughs while pulling me closer so she can wrap her arms around me.

"Shall we go upstairs?" I ask.

"Yeah" Brittany smiles. I then take her hand and lead her upstairs to our bedroom.

XXX

"I went to see your therapist today" I say as Brittany and I lie in bed curled up together.

"You did?" Brittany asks surprised while turning her head slightly so she can look at me more.

"Yeah" I nod. "I felt like maybe I hadn't dealt with what happened at the weekend in the right way" I admit.

"I shouldn't have been so out of control but at the same time, I just wanted to have fun" she replies.

"I know and I overreacted at times" I tell her. "I don't want you to ever think I'm disappointed in you or anything like that because I'll never feel like that. Personally I just didn't like people looking at you like that but I know you didn't do it to annoy me" I say.

"I should have opened up to you though and maybe I wouldn't have let things get to me. I might not have felt how I did if I did talk to you before" she replies. "I just feel like I lean on you too much sometimes because you're my wife, not my life coach. I want our relationship to fun and happy, not depressing."

"I like it when we can talk to each other and can confide in one another about things. I don't find it depressing when we talk" I reassure her.

"Doesn't it get too much when I come to you with all my problems?" she asks.

"No definitely not" I shake my head. "There are different aspects to our relationship and I like that. I like when we're happy and having fun but I also like it when we talk to each other."

"Ok" Brittany nods.

"I think the general consensus today though was that I project my insecurities onto you sometimes and I guess it makes you feel like you need to be this perfect person for me when you don't. I love you for who you are so I don't want you to accommodate me and change. I just want you to be who you want to be" I smile.

"Maybe we're both trying to be too perfect for each other" Brittany shrugs.

"In the back of my mind, I've got that feeling I had in my first marriage so I don't ever want us to get to that stage so sometimes I panic. When things don't go the way I think they should, I get worried that something bad might happen but I think I just need to have more confidence that it won't be so bad" I tell her.

"Sometimes I want to be this person for you that just isn't possible to be. I don't want you to feel like you did with Jen so I try to overdo things to make sure you don't feel as down as you did with Jen" Brittany admits.

"Maybe we just need to start being our own person and our marriage will go hand in hand with that" I say. If we don't force something then surely it'll work out better.

"I mean what happened last week was a bit too much but maybe we both need to be less uptight. I mean I'm not going anywhere so you don't need to do anything special because I'll always be with you" she smiles.

"I feel the same" I smile back. "So as much as I like this, just lying here with you, I need to go and get the kids from my mom now" I say while regrettably getting out of bed.

"That's ok" Brittany smiles. "I'm just going to leer at you though while you get changed and then I'll get myself out of bed" she smirks.

"Works for me" I shrug.

"Do you ever just lie in bed and watch me?" she asks.

"Duh!" I say like it's obvious. "I do it all the time Britt because it's a very attractive sight watching you get changed. You're a very sexy lady" I smile.

"Now I don't want you to leave" she sighs playfully.

"I want to jump back into bed with you but my mom will be wondering where I am not to mention the kids will be getting antsy because they'll want home for their dinner and to play with their toys" I say while walking back over to the bed and leaning down to kiss Brittany. "I'll be as quick as I can though and then you can stare at me all you want for the rest of the night" I smile.

"It's not just staring I want to do to you" she smirks.

"I really need to go Britt and you're making this hard for me to leave" I point out.

"Is that the only thing that's hard?" she teases.

"Britt, please don't" I laugh.

"Don't what?" she asks while moving to kneel on the bed and wrap her arms around me. Ok how the hell am I meant to leave now? The covers aren't over her anymore so she's right in front of me naked with her arms around me.

"I really need to go and that's not easy to do when you're in front of me like that" I sigh.

"I know but it's so fun teasing you" she laughs.

"How would you like it if I lay there naked making remarks like you just did when you had to leave to go and get the kids?" I ask smiling.

"I wouldn't like it but knowing it's not going to happen right now allows me to tease you" she smirks. "I will stop though because I can see you really need to go and get the kids" she smiles.

"Thank you" I say before kissing her again. "I'll see you soon" I smile while walking towards the bedroom door.

"Babe" Brittany says while lying back down in bed.

"Yeah" I say pausing at the door for a moment.

"I love you" she smiles.

"I love you too" I smile back before winking at her. I then make my way downstairs and out the door so I can pick up Aiden and Ella.

* * *

Brittany's POV

My mood has really picked up today ever since Santana got home. I am so relieved everything is ok between us now and we can finally move on from last weekend's situation. It's been a tough few days for us because I don't think either of us knew how to act around the other but at the same time I think we both wanted to put it behind us and just make up. I am so glad we got that little bit of time just the two of us because it has made me feel a thousand times better. I mean I'm not just talking about the sex, I mean on a much deeper level. Just lying there talking Santana a bit ago really made a big difference because we somewhat managed to open up to one another and say where we think we're going wrong.

Santana still isn't back yet from collecting the kids so I'm just finishing some tidying that I started earlier downstairs. I'm just cleaning the kitchen worktops when I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket so I pull it out to see who has texted me. When I read the text I can't help but chuckle.

 _From Santana: not funny!_

After she left to go and get the kids, I finally got myself out of bed and as I was about to put some clothes on, an idea popped into my head. I decided to take a picture of myself naked and send it to her because I just can't resist teasing her. I can just imagine her though talking to her mom about the kids or scolding Aiden for yet again jumping on something when her phone bleeps and she pulls it out to see a naked picture of me. Her face is most likely hilarious right now. Nevertheless I'm going to text her back anyway.

 _To Santana: I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist winding you up once more_

 _From Santana: you're really not sorry though are you?_

 _To Santana: no lol_

Even though her text sounds a little serious, I know for a fact she isn't mad right now. I mean I'm sure she'd like to be with me right now but she knows she can't.

 _From Santana: Monday morning when you're at work I'm going to take naked selfies all day and constantly send you revealing photos and there will be nothing you can do about it_

 _To Santana: I dare you to do that_

I know she thinks she's trying to tease me back because come Monday I'll be back at work and she'll be at home since she hasn't started back work yet. The teasing isn't working though because I wouldn't mind a nice picture to brighten up my boring day at work.

 _From Santana: ok I will. Anyway I need to go now, see you soon x_

As soon as I quickly type out a reply, I put my phone away and then go back to tidying up a bit and getting the kitchen straightened up.

"Hey" Dylan smiles while walking into the kitchen.

"Hey" I smile back. "Did you have a good practice?" I ask while getting some plates out for dinner.

"Really good actually" he nods. "We look to be in a good position going into our game on Monday so I'm hopeful we can win."

"That's good then" I smile. "I'm sorry I'm going to have to miss it though" I say honestly. I wanted to go to his game and support him but I've got a dental appointment that I've already rescheduled twice so I can't really change it again for a third time.

"Don't worry about it" Dylan waves it off like it's no big deal. "You guys don't need to come to my games because between basketball and soccer then there's too many games to be able to attend them all."

"We want to go and support you though" I tell him. "I think Santana might still be able to go on Monday because I can take Ella to the dentist with me and Aiden might just go to the game too" I say.

"Ok" he smiles. We then fall into a silence for a moment as I tidy up a bit and Dylan puts the washing machine on a cycle to wash his basketball kit.

"Are you ok?" I ask. He is unusually quiet at the moment because normally we would talk away to each other if we were in the same room.

"I know it's not really my place and tell me to mind my own business but I just wanted to ask how you and Santana were because I've been worried the last few days" Dylan says quietly.

"You don't need to be worried" I reassure him. "Santana and I are always going to be together so you really don't need to be concerned. Sometimes we have differences of opinions because we both view things very differently but at the bottom of it all, we're still very much in love."

"My relationship with my parents is weird as you know so I was never worried about them but you and Santana mean a lot to me and I know you're perfect for each other so it's worrying when I know something has happened" he replies.

"Honestly, Santana and I are good. Really good actually because we had a bit of a talk earlier and we've worked out a few things" I smile. "Relationships are never plain sailing though so don't be worried if we disagree. Chances are we'll have made up within the hour" I shrug.

"Ok, good" Dylan says relieved.

"Anyway, let's not dwell on the past. Everything is good now so why don't we decide what we want to eat. I'm thinking pizza but if you prefer a different kind of takeout then just say" I smile.

"Pizza is good for me" Dylan smiles back. "Anyway I'm just going to change before we have dinner" he says and I nod. He then goes upstairs to get sorted.

"Mommy!" Aiden screams while running into the kitchen.

"Hi buddy" I say lifting him up.

"Mom's mad" Aiden whispers in my ear while wrapping his arms around my neck.

"What happened?" I ask but Aiden just shrugs his shoulders.

"Aiden Lopez, where are you" Santana says seriously while walking into the kitchen carrying Ella in her car seat. "There you are" she says just noticing him in my arms.

"What's going on?" I ask.

"He ran onto the road again. He promised he would walk to the car nicely while my mom helped me outside to the car with Ella and all her stuff" Santana states unamused.

"That's not nice Aiden" I tell him.

"Sorry" Aiden mumbles into my neck.

"I think mom needs the apology more than me sweetheart" I tell him.

"Sorry" Aiden says looking at Santana.

"Why did you run like that" I ask him.

"My side" he states.

"Oh I see" Santana nods in understanding. "The way I was parked meant the side he was to sit at in the car was at the road whereas the side I was putting Ella in at was at the pavement."

"Makes sense" I nod.

"I suppose he didn't walk right out to the road, he just walked onto the road behind the car so maybe I got too panicked" Santana replies.

"Even still he knows he shouldn't even do that. He's not to the leave the pavement until one of us is with him so whether he looked or not wouldn't make a difference" I assure Santana.

"Do you understand you wait for us Aiden?" Santana asks him and he nods. "Good boy" she smiles before kissing his head.

"Hey, you're back" Dylan says walking back into the room.

"Dylan" Aiden squeals excitedly as soon as he sees him.

"Careful Aid, you're going to kick mommy" I say laughing as he wriggles about in my arms trying to get to Dylan. I then place him on the ground and he runs over to Dylan.

"We got new basketball shirts for our next game, do you want to see mine?" Dylan asks Aiden and he nods his head excitedly. "Come on, let's go" he says while taking Aiden upstairs.

"Aiden is hungry so we should think about dinner soon" Santana says while heading for the bathroom to get Ella's diaper changed.

"Dylan and I decided on pizza, is that good for you?" I ask following her.

"I can eat anything" she smiles while looking at me momentarily before going back to tending to Ella.

"Oh anything?" I smirk.

"Yes" she laughs.

"So you liked the picture then?" I ask.

"Of course I did but it did feel weird looking at it when my mom was in mid conversation with me and Aiden was staring at me because I stole a candy from my dad and was eating it" she states.

"Sorry" I apologise.

"I think we established you weren't sorry" she smiles.

"Yeah I don't know why I keep saying that" I say laughing. "Anyway let's sort dinner. You finish up here and I'll order the pizza" I say before leaving the room. As soon as it's ordered we all do what we need to do just before the pizza is delivered. We're now all sitting down together eating.

"Can I go out tonight?" Dylan asks.

"You can if you want" Santana smiles. "I need to know where you're going though" she adds.

"It's a party" he says nervously.

"I'm going to let you go but you have to promise me you'll behave" Santana says after a second. "We were all 16 once but don't take advantage of me for letting you go. You can have a few drinks but please don't let things get out of hand. Don't let anyone encourage you to do something you don't want to and come home as soon as you've had enough. Don't just stay because you think you should since your friends are staying" she tells him.

"My friends and I aren't really like that anyway" Dylan nods.

"We trust you, ok?" I say.

"I won't let either of you down, well I might let you down Brittany because I don't want to lose my shirt tonight" he teases.

"Ok, I deserved that" I laugh.

"That was good" Santana laughs while high fiving Dylan. I am so glad we can all laugh about it now because I really didn't mean it to go that far at the weekend.

"Seriously though, I won't let you down" Dylan states. Once we're all finished, we get cleared up and then Dylan gets ready to go out. Santana and I play with the kids for a while before getting them bathed and putting them to bed. Dylan has just left now so it's just Santana and I sitting in the living room together.

"Dylan is out now and the kids are asleep so do you want to do something together?" Santana asks. "We could watch a movie" she suggests.

"Or we could pick up where we left off this afternoon" I smirk.

"I think I like your idea better" she nods.

"Good" I say while pulling her down towards me so she falls onto the couch next to me. I then lean in and kiss her.

* * *

Santana's POV

Monday 14th February 2022

I'm currently on the phone catching up with Quinn. We haven't had a chance to talk in a while because we've just been so busy with our own stuff. The kids are taking up most of our time so it's nice to sit down and catch up over the phone every once in a while.

 _"_ _Are you serious?" I ask Quinn excitedly._

"What's going on babe?" Brittany whispers as she sits down next to me and wraps my free arm around her.

"I'll tell you in a second" I whisper back before going to talk to Quinn again.

 _"_ _So are you doing anything special tonight since its valentine's day?" I ask. "Yeah we're not really doing anything that much either since the kids are here… Anyway Britt's home now so I better go, I'll talk to again sometime" I say before hanging up._

"So what's going on with Quinn?" Brittany asks curiously.

"Jason proposed this morning" I tell her.

"That's so cute" she smiles.

"They've had a complicated relationship so I'm glad they're finally settling down and are happy" I say honestly.

"I'm happy for them too" Brittany smiles.

"Happy Valentine's Day by the way" I say leaning over to kiss her. "I'm sorry I haven't said it sooner but I was half asleep this morning when you left for work."

"Don't worry about it" she smiles. "I know you were up half the night with Ella so I'm not bothered about it."

"Ok, good" I smile.

"So I know we said we weren't going to make a big deal about Valentine's Day but I did get you a card" she smiles while handing me the envelope.

"Funny you say that actually because I got you one too" I laugh while leaning over the couch to get the card I had hidden for Brittany at the side. "There you go" I say handing her the card. We both then open our cards.

"Why don't I put them up somewhere" Brittany says while taking my card and standing up. She then looks around the room for a moment before finding a good spot to put both of the cards up. "I actually have something else for you" she says before disappearing out the room to only come back in a second or two later. She then pulls out a large bunch of roses from behind her back.

"Britt, they're beautiful" I say smiling.

"Not as beautiful as you but yeah they're nice flowers" she shrugs.

"Come here" I say and she steps closer so I can kiss her. "Now I didn't get you a present but I am making you a special dinner tonight. Aiden and Ella have already eaten so I think our dinner will be ready just in time for them going to bed."

"Sounds good" she smiles.

"Dylan ate with some friends after basketball practice so he's upstairs doing homework now so it'll just be the two of us" I tell her.

"Have I got some time to go and change and spend some time with the kids before dinner then?" she asks.

"Yeah of course. Go and do what you need to do and I'll let you know when dinner is ready" I tell her and she nods before leaving. I then put the flowers in some water and go and see what else needs done for dinner.

XXX

"What's happened to the mashed potatoes?" Brittany asks walking into the kitchen.

"Nothing, why don't they look good?" I frown in confusion.

"They just look a little lumpy, that's all" Brittany shrugs.

"You'll look a little lumpy in a minute" I tease.

"Put your hands on me all you want. You know I love it whenever your hands on me, no matter which way or why" she smirks.

"Ok that's not how it's supposed to go" I shake my head with a smile. "You're supposed to say you're sorry because you don't want us to fight and I'll say it's ok so you're forgiven, then we'll kiss and make up."

"We could still do that anyways" she smiles.

"I suppose" I smile back.

"So do you need any help with dinner then?" she asks while sitting down at the table.

"No I'm good thank you" I smile again and she nods.

"Drink?" I ask while holding up the bottle of wine.

"No I better not" Brittany shakes her head.

"Honey, you don't need to stay away from alcohol" I tell her. "You got drunk one time, that happens to everyone at some point or another."

"Yes but I got drunk and disrespected you. That is not a chance I want to take again" she states.

"Honey it's just one drink to have with dinner since its Valentine's Day" I say. I mean she doesn't need to drink if she doesn't want to but I want to make sure it's because she just doesn't want to and it's not because she's still feeling bad about a few weeks ago.

"Honestly, I don't want one" she shrugs.

"Ok babe" I smile while putting the wine back down.

"You have some though" she tells me.

"No I'm ok without" I smile. "Seriously though babe, don't be not drinking because of me. I was way too hard you on Brittany" I say shaking my head.

"I know we've sorted things out so let's leave what happened in the past" she smiles. "I think you were fair enough with me so don't you be worried either, ok?"

"Ok" I smile.

"I just don't really feel like drinking since I'm working tomorrow but all I'm saying is if I do have a drink again then I'll be more careful. I won't let things get out of hand" she says while walking over to me.

"Let's both agree to communicate better in the future" I smile.

"Yes" she smiles back before wrapping her arms around my neck. "Did I tell you how hot you looked tonight?" she asks.

"I don't think so but I'm not surprised because I'm dressed in sweatpants. They're not exactly the sexiest of clothing" I say.

"Ok but the girl in the sweatpants is the sexiest girl alive" she smiles. I'm literally melting inside with happiness. I am so happy Brittany and I are in a good place again because when we're good we're really good if that makes sense.

"I don't know if I can agree with that because I kinda like to think you're the hottest girl around here" I smile.

"Let's say we're both the hottest shall we" she laughs.

"I can go with that" I say before leaning up to kiss her.


	42. Not Again!

Chapter 42: Not Again!

Santana's POV

Friday 18th February 2022

I woke up really early this morning and I couldn't get back to sleep so I decided to just get out of bed. I checked on both of the kids but they were both still asleep so I made my way downstairs to make myself some coffee. There's a pile of laundry that needs doing down here but I really can't face it right now. I'm just leaning against the kitchen worktop waiting on the coffee machine firing up when I hear movement on the stairs.

"Morning" I smile at Brittany as she walks into the kitchen. "Do you want some coffee?" I ask.

"No thank you" she smiles back before wrapping her arms around my waist. "Where are Aiden and Ella?" she asks.

"Surprisingly still asleep" I reply.

"So what are your plans for today?" she asks curiously while leaning against me so we're as close as we can be.

"Actually I was thinking of going into work for a few hours. My parents phoned last night when you were in bed so they offered to take the kids today so I thought I would make the most of my time off" I tell her.

"We are doing ok money wise so you don't need to go back to work yet if you don't want to" Brittany assures me.

"I know" I smile. "I just thought I would go into the office and see how things are going. Plus I want to make sure Artie has been doing ok since I took some leave" I tell her. I also wouldn't mind going into work to get some normality back in my life. Don't get me wrong I love being at home with the kids but it does get a bit isolating so I'm looking forward to some interactions with others.

"That's cool" she nods before leaning down to kiss me.

"What was that for?" I ask with a smile.

"Do I need a reason to kiss you in the morning?" she smiles back.

"Of course not" I shake my head.

"You're looking very sexy this morning" she smirks.

"Is that so?" I ask while putting my arms around her neck before leaning up to kiss her this time.

"We should try and do something this weekend together because Emma said she wanted to take Aiden and Ella to a show. She got free tickets through work so she and Artie are going to have them for the day tomorrow" Brittany replies.

"Sounds good because I could really do with some adult interaction for a change" I say.

"Does it get a bit lonely sometimes when the kids are napping and you're just waiting for me to get home?" she asks.

"Sometimes" I admit. "It's nice to have some adult interaction every once in a while but I don't get that a lot when it's just me and the kids."

"Maybe we could think about getting the kids to day care then and you can get back to work" Brittany suggests. "It doesn't need to be fulltime, you can just work a few days a week if you want."

"I feel bad though when one of us isn't here with the kids" I admit.

"Babe it's not like we'll never see them" she says trying to reassure me. "I mean we went back to work after Aiden and he's doing great so I'm sure Ella will be fine too" she adds.

"I suppose" I say thinking about the idea. I mean it might make me feel a little better getting to leave the house and do some work a few days because it is really quite lonely being stuck in here all the time.

"They could always go to the childcare at the hospital and I can drop them off and pick them up each day. It means I never need to be too far away from them and I can spend my breaks with them" Brittany states.

"Is that allowed?" I ask. I just assumed the facility was for doctors and nurses, I didn't know if it stretched to any of the other staff in the hospital.

"I could look into it" Brittany smiles. "Plus I'd rather pay for something like that where the kids are close to me rather than pay someone else."

"We could do that I guess" I nod. It might not actually be too bad an idea.

"We can think about it more later but right now I probably should get ready for work" she points out.

"Ok babe" I smile.

"I was thinking though that maybe you and I could try to meet for lunch today" Brittany suggests. "I think I'll get my break about quarter to one" she adds.

"I'd like that" I smile. "Shall I meet you in the parking lot and we can either walk somewhere or I'll drive?"

"Yeah" Brittany smiles back. "Anyway I really should get ready now" she says before leaving the room.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Saturday 19th February 2022

Britt and I are heading out to lunch soon since Emma has the kids. I'm really looking forward to getting some time with her on my own because it's been a while. I mean we've had the odd few nights recently where we've had dinner and spent some time together but we've never really been able to go out. We did have lunch together yesterday but we had to make it quick since we were both working so I'm hoping for a relaxing day today and maybe we can do something else after lunch.

"Babe can we quickly swing by my brother and Quinn's place because I need to drop something off for Quinn?" I ask as we leave the house and make our way out to Brittany's car.

"Of course" she smiles.

"Thanks" I smile back. As soon as we arrive at Jason and Quinn's house, we exit the car and head over to the door where I ring the doorbell.

"Hey guys, what's up?" my brother Jason asks as he opens the door.

"We're looking for your fiancée" Brittany smiles as we walk inside. "Congrats on the engagement by the way" she adds.

"Thanks" Jason smiles back.

"So is my best friend here then?" I ask. The house seems really quiet so I'm just wondering if I've maybe missed Quinn and she's just gone out.

"She's right here honey" Brittany winks.

"Sorry what I meant to say is my old best friend here?" I say smiling at Brittany.

"She was in the shower but let me go and check where she's at now" Jason says before going to find Quinn. A few minutes later they both walk into the room.

"Hey guys" Quinn smiles.

"Hey" I smile back. "We won't stay long because we have grown up plans today but…"

"Barf" Jason mutters interrupting me and making a disgusted face.

"She doesn't mean like that" Brittany shakes her head at my brother. "We're getting some time away from the kids since Emma and Artie have them all day. Although I wouldn't rule out some sexy times either" she adds while turning around to smirk at me.

"Double barf" Jason says disgustedly causing me to glare at him.

"Ignore him" Quinn says rolling her eyes at Jason. "So what are you doing here?" she asks.

"I just wanted to drop off the wedding magazines that you wanted to look at" I reply. Since Brittany and I are married now then we didn't see the point in keeping the magazines anymore when Quinn could use them now that she's engaged.

"Oh right, thank you" Quinn smiles.

"Speaking of getting married, is there a ring we can see?" Brittany asks excitedly.

"Yes there most certainly is" Quinn says happily while holding out her hand to us.

"It's very small" I point out as I look at the tiny stone on the ring.

"Santana!" Brittany shakes her head at me.

"I'm sorry" I apologise. "What I'm trying to say is that my brother clearly has different taste from me. I mean if you compare the ring I got Brittany to that then it's vastly different. Not to mention, the rock Brittany got me is very my style but again very different to yours."

"Honey, I would just stop talking" Brittany laughs.

"I'm just saying not everyone has expensive taste" I shrug.

"Yeah, we hear you" Quinn states offended.

"If it's any consolation I think it's lovely" Brittany tells Quinn.

"Thank you Brittany" Quinn says turning and smiling at Brittany.

"No I mean don't get me wrong. It's an ok ring, I'm just saying it's not really for me" I shrug.

"Well I guess Quinn and I just don't have much experience in this kind of thing since this is going to be our first wedding whereas you've been married twice now, is that right?" Jason smirks at me.

"What does that matter" I mumble.

"We don't have much practice in wedding related stuff whereas you must" Jason shrugs.

"Ok one of you two are going to get hurt so let's stop now before it gets worse" Brittany states.

"I agree" Quinn nods.

"We should probably be making a move anyway Britt if we want to get to the restaurant on time" I say looking at Brittany.

"Yeah we better get going" Brittany agrees.

"We'll catch up soon Quinn" I say to my best friend. "Have a nice day guys" I smile.

"You too" Quinn smiles back as she and Jason walk us to the door.

"If you ever need me Quinn for support since you're marrying a Lopez now then just call me. I know how hard it can be sometimes, so don't be afraid to reach out. I've got tons of experience" Brittany smirks.

"It can't be that hard Britt since you're still with me" I point out gleefully.

"What can I say, I'm a sucker for punishment" she smirks again.

"Whatever" I say while playfully hitting her on the butt causing my brother to make another disgusted face.

"You two better go before Jason has a heart attack" Quinn says laughing.

"Yeah there's certain things a little brother doesn't need to see his big sister do" Jason states.

"I hit my wife on the ass, it wasn't that bad" I roll my eyes at him. Although he does have a bit of a point because at first I didn't like seeing my best friend and brother get close. It was just too weird for me at the time.

"Come on, let's go" Brittany says pulling me by the hand. We all then say our goodbyes and Brittany and I finally leave and get back into her car. After having a nice lunch together, we decide to do some shopping.

"Now that's a nice dress" I say as Brittany picks up a dress to look at.

"You should try it on" she says turning around to look at me.

"No it's not really my style, I meant it would be really good on you" I smile.

"It looks a little short, don't you think?" she asks.

"Your legs are sexy though" I shrug. "Try it but if you don't like it then you don't need to buy it" I say.

"Ok" she smiles. After picking up a few more items, we make our way to the fitting rooms to try our things on.

"Do you want to share?" I ask. It's reasonably empty so there are a few cubicles free but what's the point of trying on our things separately.

"You would love that wouldn't you?" Brittany smirks at me.

"If it involves you getting undressed then yes I am going to love it" I smile.

"Come on" she smiles back while pulling me into one of the cubicles. She then starts changing into the first item of clothing she has.

"Excuse me, why have I never seen those panties before?" I ask. "I'm sure I would remember a sexy pair like that when I'm undressing you at night."

"They're new" Brittany shrugs.

"I need to see new panties when you buy them. They're no use to me hidden in the bottom of your underwear drawer at home when you can model them very easily for me at night" I smile.

"I'm modelling them for you now aren't I?" she smirks while stepping closer to me.

"Very true" I nod while wrapping my arms around her and kissing her.

"Come on, I want to see the sexy pieces you're trying on" Brittany says while fixing the dress she has on.

"Yes, Ms Lopez" I say saluting her.

"How can you be so adorable yet so sexy at the same time?" she says smiling at me.

"I'm just a very talented individual" I shrug.

"Adorable, sexy and now smug" Brittany laughs.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Friday 25th February 2022

Dylan and I are just sitting in the dining room going through a few legal things together. Aiden and Ella are both in the other room napping so we're making the most of the quiet time to go over a few things we need to go over. I'm just showing Dylan a particular document when Brittany walks into the room.

"Hey guys" she smiles at us.

"Hi baby" I say while kissing her when she leans down to me. "How was work?" I ask.

"It was good, not too hectic for a change" she smiles.

"That's good" I smile back.

"So what are you two doing?" Brittany asks curiously.

"We're going over some paperwork for Dylan's emancipation" I reply.

"So you're really doing it?" Brittany asks sadly.

"Yeah I need to" Dylan nods. "It's the best option all round I would say. I mean I'm not happy living with my parents and they don't seem happy with me there either" he adds.

"I get how your dad is a bit weird because I saw a side to him during the dinner but I don't understand the deal with your mom" I say honestly.

"I just don't understand how she can just get on with life without worrying about you Dylan. What kind of sick mother would do that" Brittany says shaking her head. "I know if something happened between Aiden or Ella and me then I would at least want to know they were ok. I mean I know not all teenagers get on with their parents but this is just on another level."

"Yeah I know what you mean" I nod in agreement.

"Actually, my mom and I have been talking" Dylan admits nervously.

"You have?" I ask surprised. This is the first I've heard of it so it's took me by surprise.

"Yeah" he nods. "I haven't spoken to my dad though" he adds.

"Why didn't you say you have been speaking to your mom?" Brittany asks curiously.

"Because I was afraid you'd make me go back there to stay and I didn't want that because my dad is still an asshole. Living here with you both is the first time I've finally felt at home and comfortable where I'm staying" he says honestly.

"We would never throw you out like that" I assure Dylan.

"Yeah we love having you here so you really don't need to live on your own either" Brittany says.

"The thing is though that my mom will never leave my dad and I can't go back there when he's there so that's why I need to move into my own place. Plus I can't put you guys out anymore either because this is your home with your kids. I'm not your responsibly but I am really grateful for everything you've done for me" Dylan replies.

"I think I maybe should speak to your mom though from a lawyer's perspective because you're still 16 so it would be easier for you to be emancipated if we got her permission because generally you need to be 18" I point out.

"Do you really need to talk to her, can't I just talk to her and let you know what she says" Dylan says nervously.

"Is there a reason you don't want me to talk to her?" I ask confused. To me it sounds like he doesn't want me to speak to her.

"N-no, of course not" Dylan shakes his head. I'm getting the feeling something else is going on here but I don't know what.

"Ok well I'll talk to her tomorrow" I say. "She doesn't usually work on Saturdays does she?" I ask.

"No" Dylan replies.

"That's settled then" I smile.

"I suppose I should leave you both to it" Brittany says leaning down to kiss me again. "Shall I make a start on dinner or are you not hungry yet?" she asks.

"No dinner sounds good" I smile. As soon as Dylan and I got to a suitable point in the paperwork, we decided to leave the rest for another day. Dylan went upstairs to hang out and I went to help Brittany with dinner. After we all had dinner together, Dylan went to a friend's house and Brittany and I spent some time with the kids before bathing them and putting them to bed.

"The kids are in bed so I think you and I should have some adult time now" Brittany smirks at me as she straddles my lap.

"I like the sound of that" I smile while wrapping my arms around Brittany.

"I must warn you though, I am not wearing any underwear anymore so you should probably get caught up quick" she says before getting off my lap and taking off upstairs. I don't waste any time in following her to our room.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Saturday 26th February 2022

I'm currently in the shower getting ready for the day. Even though it's Saturday which means Britt, the kids and me all get to have family time together, I'm not actually looking forward to the day ahead. I'm going to try and talk to Christina about things today and find out what's been going on with her. I also need to speak to her about Dylan being emancipated but if she doesn't allow it then I don't think we have much chance of him being free from his parents. I just can't understand how anyone could be so cruel to their child so I'm expecting it all to possibly kick off between us.

I'm brought out of my thoughts when I hear movement behind me. "Britt?" I question confused, as arms wrap around my waist from behind.

"Of course it's me" she laughs. "Who else would jump in the shower with you?" she asks rhetorically but I answer anyway.

"My secret lover maybe" I say turning around to face her.

"Show me this secret lover so I can kick the shit out of her" she replies.

"Would you actually do that if I did have someone else?" I ask curiously. Of course I'll never have anyone else but I'm just curious.

"No I would probably kick the shit out of you first" she shrugs. "You?" she asks as she pulls me close and wraps her arms around me.

"I would be super pissed obviously but I don't think I could ever lay a hand on you no matter how much the situation was fucked up" I admit. I love Brittany too much that even her doing the worst possible thing to me couldn't make me physically hurt her.

"This joke is taking a really dark turn so I think we should start from the beginning again" Brittany says while letting go of me and opening the shower door. "Turn back around babe" she smiles while stepping out of the shower.

"Are you really going to step back out and step back in?" I ask laughing.

"Yeah" she nods.

"Ok" I laugh while doing as I'm told by turning back around. As soon as I do that, Brittany quietly climbs back into the shower and wraps her arms around me from behind.

"Britt?" I say like I did before causing her to laugh.

"Of course it's me" she replies, still laughing.

"What are you doing in here?" I ask while turning around to face her.

"I thought you might need some help to get washed" she shrugs. "Plus I know how much you're dreading speaking to Christina today so I thought this might cheer you up" she smiles while pulling me closer.

"I just don't understand the whole thing. How can you not care about your son like that" I sigh.

"I have no idea so I'm guessing there must be some big story to it all or something. I mean this doesn't just blow up like it has without some big reason" Brittany says.

"Exactly" I nod in agreement.

"Do you want me to see if my brother can watch the kids and I'll come with you?" Brittany offers.

"No I better go myself because I think Dylan's dad is working so I don't want her thinking we're teaming up on her or anything. Thank you though" I smile.

"I'm just going to be hanging out here so call me if you need me at any point" she replies.

"I will" I say before leaning up to kiss her.

XXX

"Santana?" Christina says shocked as she opens the door to see me. "What are you doing here?" she asks confused.

"Can I come in so we can talk?" I ask hopefully.

"Um…"

"Please, I think it's important that you and I talk" I say seriously.

"Fine" she sighs while opening the door wider so I can step inside. We then walk through to the kitchen and take a seat. "I'm guessing you're not here to discuss the interior designing of the house" she says while leaning back in her chair and folding her arms.

"I think you know exactly why I'm here" I state. I'm not in the mood for any nonsense today, I just want to get through what I need to get through and finally get Dylan out of their lives.

"Talk then" she says after a minute of silence.

"Ok so I'm helping Dylan at the moment because he wants to get emancipated from the two of you so having your permission would be a big step in allowing him that" I reply.

"Clearly I don't want that but if it's what he wants then I can't exactly stop him" Christina sighs.

"I don't think it is clear actually" I say frowning at her. I don't know why she's saying that because I've never got the impression lately that she cared about her son.

"Despite what you might think, I still love my son dearly" she tells me.

"I find that extremely hard to believe because I love my son dearly and I would never treat him the way you and Russell treat Dylan" I say.

"I do love him but I also love my husband so I'm stuck in the middle. I never wanted my son to leave but he chose to so what else could I do without ruining my marriage anymore?" she states.

"If Brittany carried on the way Russell does then I'm afraid I'd be allowing the marriage to end" I say honestly. I love Brittany obviously but if my wife mistreated our son then I think I would be siding with my son.

"Russell is not a bad person, he's just not had an easy life" Christina admits. "He's had to deal with a lot in his life so sometimes he doesn't handle things in the best way but he does love his son too."

"I don't care what he's had to overcome, you don't treat your own child like that. I'm a parent now so I know how it feels and I know I always want my children to be happy. If Aiden and Ella turn out to be kickass lawyers ten times better than me then I'll be over the moon. I want them to succeed in their life, I would never be jealous of them" I say honestly.

"Jealous of them, what are you talking about?" Christina asks confused.

"Well Russell doesn't want Dylan to pursue basketball because he's worried that Dylan will be better than he ever was" I state.

"That's not true, what gave you that impression?" Christina states annoyed.

"Dylan told me plus I think it is rather obvious when you think about it" I reply.

"Santana that is not the case at all" Christina shakes her head. "Russell doesn't want Dylan to do sports because he doesn't want what happened to him to happen to his son. Basketball and soccer are good in the beginning but the minute an injury hits it's all over and Russell doesn't want that for Dylan. He wants him to get a good career that can set him up for life not only last a few years."

"Just because Russell got a career ending injury does not mean it'll happen to Dylan. Shouldn't we as parents be encouraging our children to do what they're passionate about?" I say.

"You're acting as if Russell is a monster or something" she replies.

"He doesn't seem like a very good dad to be honest" I point out. "I mean neither of the two of you have come to see him nor try to take him home because you love him and want to care for him."

"Firstly I have kept in contact with Dylan and secondly, the reason we haven't tried is because we know he doesn't want us. Dylan has always preferred you Santana so there's no point in us trying to fight it" Christina states.

"After you all moved away I barely saw him so I find that very hard to believe" I state.

"We were never good enough for Dylan and he tells us that all the time. I worked half the time I wasn't at college so I could provide for my family but to Dylan he thinks I just didn't care about him. You don't understand how hard it was for me back in college because you've never had to basically be a single parent. I mean Russell was there but he often had games and was travelling all over the place so I was left to earn the cash and try to make a career for myself" she says, starting to get emotional.

"Are you sure you're not being a little oversensitive at the moment because Dylan doesn't seem like the person to throw things like that in your face?" I ask. I totally get what she's saying but I still don't feel it completely explains the situation.

"I love my children more than I've ever loved anyone so when your son tells you you're the worst parent ever and how he hates you then it does something to a person. Dylan doesn't want me to be in his life so after he moved out and wouldn't answer any of my calls, I just kind of stopped trying I guess" she admits.

"It just doesn't seem like Dylan" I say honestly. I just can't picture him being rude to his parents or saying he hates them.

"Look I know that Russell can rub people up the wrong way because he has a different approach to things including parenting but that doesn't mean we don't love Dylan" Christina replies. "Dylan was heartbroken when we had to leave so I don't think that helped matters either because he blames his dad for all the upheaval in our lives. I mean in the beginning we moved a lot due to Russell's basketball career so it was hard for Dylan to make friends and things like that when we wouldn't be in the same place long."

"I can appreciate what you're saying but I'm just struggling to see the effort you two made. Even if I felt my son hated me, I couldn't not try and do something to make it right" I say.

"Well I'm sorry I'm not a perfect parent like yourself" Christina says frustrated.

"I'm far from perfect I can assure you but most parents would actually give a bit more of a shit than you do about Dylan" I tell her.

"I can't force Dylan to like me when he doesn't want to especially after what he found out recently" she states.

"What do you mean?" I ask confused. What exactly has he found out about recently that would make him dislike his mom even more?

"Dylan hasn't told you has he?" Christina asks.

"Told me what?" I ask confused.

"The real reason as to why we all left those years back" she replies.

"Yeah it was because Russell got a better offer at another college" I shrug.

"No that's not the real reason" Christina shakes her head. "I mean yes that's the reason Russell went but Dylan and I didn't necessarily need to go. I could have stayed and finished my degree here but I didn't" she says.

"Oh" I say surprised.

"Dylan has hated me more ever since I told him that because he thinks it would have been better if we did stay. He feels he was forced into it because he knows now it wasn't completely necessary for us to all leave" she replies.

"So why did you all leave in the end if it wasn't compulsory?" I ask curiously.

"Because of you" Christina sighs. "I left and moved away because of you Santana. You are the reason I had to leave."

"Me?" I question. What the hell have I got to do with any of this? I mean you'd think if anything she would stay because of me and our friends and her family, not move away.

"I was in love with you Santana, how couldn't you see that" she states.

"Whoa, ok. Let's back this fucker up" I say shocked. This really is not the time for these silly sick jokes. "Just tell me the real reason please because there's no way you were in love with me" I shake my head.

"That is the reason" Christina sighs.

"It can't be though because you and I were only ever friends" I assure her.

"I know that but it didn't stop me from developing feelings for you. I knew there was no way you would ever feel the same about me so I had to move away because it hurt too much to be around you" she tells me.

"This is just too weird" I shake my head. "I'm guessing Russell doesn't know about any of this because I don't know how he could still be with you knowing you loved someone else."

"He does know actually which is probably why he acts the way he does sometimes because I guess he has never really forgave me. He also isn't completely fond of you so I think Dylan moving in with you rubbed him up the wrong way" Christina replies. "I ruined our family so I'm not surprised that Dylan and Russell come across the way they do because Dylan hates me for ruining our happy family and Russell just hates me anyway for falling for someone else and he takes his anger out on the people closest."

"Why are you and Russell still together then?" I ask. If Brittany fell for someone else then as much as it pained me, I would need to split up with her.

"Because we need each other and plus we have Charlie now" she replies.

"This isn't really my business but I don't think you should be together if you don't want to be. It's clearly a toxic relationship that has caused one child enough heartache so I would hate to see Charlie go though the same when he gets older" I say honestly.

"I have no one else Santana" Christina sighs.

"This is the reason why Dylan didn't want me to come here today because he found out about how you felt about me" I say.

"Exactly" she replies.

"I assume you're over me now because it has been a long time since we were last friends" I say.

"To be honest with you, being back here and seeing you again has caused a few feelings to resurface" she admits.

"I need to go now" I say standing up abruptly. "Look if you really do love Dylan as much as you say you do then please let him know that you're ok with him being emancipated because that boy deserves some good in his life."

"You can't just leave like that. I feel like I need to explain a bit more" she states.

"Not today" I shake my head. "I need to go now" I say before leaving and getting into my car.

This cannot be happening to me again. How am I supposed to explain to my wife about someone else from my past turning up saying they were in love with me. We went through a lot with Jennifer and I am so glad Brittany understood but how the hell can I tell her all about this. I mean Jennifer wasn't in love with me but she did make things difficult for Britt and me. We've been really happy recently and now I need to explain all of this. My life feels like a soap opera sometimes, I mean when does this kind of thing happen in real life? I just want a normal life with my perfect family.

XXX

As soon as I walk into the house, Brittany and Dylan are bombarding me with questions about my chat with Christina. I don't really know what the best way is to handle things so I think I'm just going to explain things as I go along. I tried coming up with something on the car ride home so that I could tell Brittany properly and she didn't overreact right away but I just couldn't think of how to say it so I'm just going to talk and see what happens.

"How did it go?" Brittany asks curiously.

"What did my mom say?" Dylan asks nervously. I know now why he was so weird about me meeting with his mom.

"I think you better sit down Dylan" I say motioning over to the table where Brittany is still sitting at.

"She's against the emancipation isn't she?" he asks worriedly.

"Not exactly, no" I say while taking a seat across from them. I then go into detail about what Christina and I talked about in the beginning about Dylan and Russell.

"So it's all good to go ahead with the emancipation then?" Brittany asks and I nod.

"There is more to the story though that I need to talk to you about Britt" I say before looking at Dylan. He knows exactly what I'm talking about so he stands up from the table.

"I'll leave you both to it" Dylan says before leaving.

"So what's up?" Brittany asks with a smile.

"There's no easy way to tell you this so I'm basically just going to come right out and say it" I say with a sigh and Brittany nods. "Apparently Christina didn't need to leave years ago but she did and it was because of me" I say starting to explain things.

"What have you got to do with anything?" she says looking at me confused.

"Christina was allegedly in love with me back in college and had to leave because she couldn't be around me anymore" I admit.

"Wow, ok" Brittany says taking a deep breath and letting the information sink in. "I didn't expect you to say that but I guess I can't really get mad because it was way before we met" she shrugs. I then go on to explain the rest of the conversation that Christina and I had.

"It is ok to get pissed babe" I say surprised at how calm she is being about the news.

"It's all in the past though and it's not like she still loves you now so it's not ok but I can handle it" Brittany says while smiling slightly and leaning over to gently squeeze my hand to reassure me.

"Actually…" I say before taking a small pause to think about how to say the next bit. "She did tell me that seeing me again recently has allowed some feelings to resurface" I say nervously.

"Oh for fuck's sake" Brittany states annoyed while leaning back in her chair and shaking her head. "What did you say to her after that?" she asks.

"I basically just walked out. I mean how could I reply to something like that?" I say.

"Perhaps by saying 'I have a wife who I love' and then giving her an earful of how it isn't acceptable" Brittany states.

"Brittany…I can't tell her how she has to feel. If she feels like that then she does but I don't want to be caught up in it all. I just wanted to get the hell out of there" I reply.

"So you didn't remind her that you love me?" she questions.

"It goes without saying babe. She knows I didn't and still don't want her so I wasn't about to stay and talk any longer. I just wanted to leave because I didn't want another person from my past fucking things up for you and me" I say honestly.

"Fine, whatever" Brittany sighs.

"Honey, Christina left because she knew there was no chance I felt the same so she isn't going to come after me or anything like that. She knows I'm happily married to you so as much as this is a shitty situation, she's not going to ruin us" I assure Brittany.

"That's not the point Santana because I know you don't want her; the point is how I don't like other people thinking things like that about you" Brittany states.

"Ok" I nod in understanding.

"I don't understand why everyone wants my wife?" Brittany sighs annoyed. "She's mine and she's got someone who loves her already so why do people think it's ok to have an attraction to someone they can't have. What's mine is mine, I don't share so it's unacceptable when someone thinks they can have that."

"I don't like people thinking like that about me either" I say while moving to another chair closer to Brittany. "It's not a nice feeling for me as much as it isn't for you either" I tell her.

"You're going to have to stop wearing makeup and start putting on weight or something because I don't know how much more I can handle. Is there likely anyone else from your past that wants you?" she replies.

"Believe it or not but I didn't have many relationships before you and Jennifer was the most serious one so I have no idea what's happening. I must be sending out some weird signals or something because I did not go about making people fall for me" I sigh.

"This must be what I get for marrying the sexiest person on the planet" Brittany shakes her head. "You are so lucky you married someone ugly because it's extremely unlikely this would happen the other way around" she sighs.

"Ok, just stop" I say while taking her hands in mine. "You are not ugly Brittany, not at all. This isn't a reflection on you; it's about how awful some of my friends are compared to yours" I tell her. I'm just glad that mostly everyone from Brittany's past are respectable enough people because I don't think I could handle an ex turning up. I admire Brittany so much for handling all of this stuff as well as she has because I thought it would have been worse.

"I'm not happy about this Santana but I don't know what to do now" she shrugs.

"I don't like it either but if there is any positive takeaway from this situation then it's that I can genuinely see that Christina knows she can't have me. I'm certain that she isn't going to try and come between us because she knows she has no chance" I say trying to reassure Brittany.

"So where do we go from here?" Brittany asks looking at me.

"I'm going to continue to help Dylan with the emancipation and then when he's free from them then we can all get on with our lives. I don't know any more what really went down between all of them but I'm not going to let it concern me too much. As long as Dylan is ok and gets what he wants then I don't care about Christina and Russell" I reply. There might be a slight bit of truth to Christina's side of the story about Dylan but I'll never really know so if I can help him get emancipated then he can move on and Christina and Russell can deal with their own crap leaving me out of things.

"He's a vulnerable 16 year old so as long as things work out for him then that's the main thing" Brittany says in agreement.

"Exactly. Russell and Christina can ruin their own lives but they won't ruin mine" I state. "Come here" I say pulling Brittany closer to me and hugging her.

"I hope you know I'm mad at the situation and not you" Brittany says quietly.

"I know baby, don't worry" I smile before kissing the top of her head.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Sunday 27th February 2022

I took Aiden and Ella with me to visit my sister today so that Brittany could have some time to herself to relax. She's been busy at work all week and the whole thing with Christina yesterday didn't help much so I thought she might like the house to herself for a while. Dylan is spending the day with his friends at the basketball court so he isn't at home either. However when I got home about 20 minutes ago Brittany wasn't there so I put the kids down for a nap and then texted her to see where she is. I still haven't got a reply yet but I'm assuming she won't be too much longer because she would let me know if she was to be out a while.

"#baby why don't you just meet me in the middle. I'm losing my mind just a little so why don't you just meet me in the middle, the middle…#" I'm rudely cut off singing along to the radio by the noise of the front door slamming shut. I turn around and see Brittany standing by the kitchen door with the most vicious look on her face that I've ever seen. "You look sexy when you're mad" I say while dancing over to her.

"Not now" she shakes her head at me, still looking unimpressed.

"What's wrong baby, are you ok?" I ask concerned.

"No not really" she shrugs her shoulders still looking mad.

"Why what's going on?" I ask as I put my arms around her waist to try to comfort her.

"I've just been at the police station" Brittany states.

"I beg your pardon" I say shocked. What on earth would she be doing at the police station in the middle of the afternoon? I mean I did think it was weird that she wasn't home when I got in but I would never have guessed her to be there.

"Yep" she nods looking pissed off. "Your little crush decided to call the cops on me so they turned up and took me in for questioning."

"Hold up, do you mean Christina?" I ask. She's not my crush because I'm not the one crushing on her, it's apparently the other way around.

"Yeah" Brittany nods.

"Why would she call the cops on you?" I ask.

"Because I slapped her across the face this morning" Brittany replies.

"How did that happen?" I ask before changing my question. "I mean how did you get the opportunity to hit her, did she come here trying to cause trouble?"

"No I went to see her and just kind of find out more about what's going on. I mean you're a very attractive person Santana so I know people are going to find you hot but I wanted to find out if she had a motive. I mean how do I know if she is going to act on the feelings without talking to her. Anyway I talked to her and she kept saying all this stuff that riled me up so before I knew it, my hand was on her face and I had slapped her" Brittany sighs.

"After everything we're doing for her son, how can she call the police on you?" I say shaking my head. She must know she was annoying Brittany so she must have seen the slap coming. I mean I don't like violence but I wouldn't hold back either if someone was messing with my marriage.

"They didn't say it was actually her that called them but who else would it be?" Brittany states.

"So what happens now?" I ask.

"It wasn't like I was arrested or anything, they just wanted to ask me a few questions about what we were arguing about. I guess if Christina does take things further then I could be charged with assault or something" she sighs.

"It was one slap, surely not" I say shaking my head.

"I don't like this Santana" she says while leaning her head against my shoulder.

"I'm going to talk to her and see what she says. Maybe I can get her to not take things further. Surely she owes us this since we've been taking care of her son for the last few months" I say.

"I'm sorry" Brittany apologises.

"You have nothing to apologise for, this is not your fault" I say while hugging her tighter.


	43. I'll Sort This

Chapter 43: I'll Sort This

Brittany's POV

Sunday 27th February 2022

I'm just sitting on the couch thinking about the past hour or two. Everything was fine before I went to see Christina and then it all went downhill from there. I know I shouldn't go around hitting people but the woman really wound me up today. She was talking about my family and I'm really protective over them so I don't take too kindly to people talking bad about them. I especially don't take too kindly to people interfering in my marriage and thinking they can come between Santana and me.

"Are you ok?" Santana asks while sitting down next to me and holding out a cup of coffee towards me.

"Thanks" I smile briefly while taking the cup. "As for being ok, no not really" I shrug.

"We're going to get this sorted out, I promise" she says trying to reassure me that things will be ok.

"How am I supposed to go into work tomorrow and explain to my boss about what happened?" I ask. I can't see her being too happy with me visiting the police station today.

"You don't need to tell them anything because it's not like you were arrested or anything. The police just wanted to talk to you about the disagreement" Santana replies. "We might need to explain things later on but I'm hoping it won't get that far. I'm hoping this whole thing will be dropped so there won't be anything to tell."

"I really hope so" I sigh.

"I should talk to Christina and see what she says" Santana replies.

"I don't want you in trouble too" I sigh. I'll need to figure out another way to sort things out because I can't have Santana going in there all guns blazing and getting into trouble.

"I think I'm the one that can stop this. I mean if she truly liked me as a friend back then then surely she'll want to help me" she replies.

"Yeah she might want to help you but she doesn't want to help me" I state.

"Please don't worry, I will get this sorted out" Santana says while placing her arm around me and giving me a light squeeze.

"I hope so" I sigh.

"I'm going to check on the kids but I'll be right back" Santana says while standing up from the couch.

"I'll come with you because I could do with a hug from my favourite people" I say while standing up as well. If anything can lift my spirits up then it's being with my children.

"I kind of like to think I'm a favourite person too" Santana shrugs as she looks back at me with a smile as we make our way through to the other room.

"You are" I smile.

"Let me hug you then" she smiles back.

"I'm not stopping you" I smirk. She then comes over to me and wraps her arms around me. Just as I relax into the hug with my arms around her too, I feel her slide her hands down my back slowly. "You'll lose those hands if you go any lower" I tease.

"Ok" she laughs while bringing her hands back up. "I was only doing it to cheer you up, I wasn't trying to sexualise the moment."

"I know" I smile. "Thank you for trying to make me feel better" I say while pulling away slightly to kiss her.

"It's no trouble" Santana smiles back. We then go and check on the kids.

XXX

After Dylan found out about the conversation with Santana and his parents yesterday, he decided to stay with a friend for a few days until the whole emancipation thing was all sorted out. He was worried if he stayed with us for any longer then it might annoy his parents so he didn't want to do anything that could make Christina and Russell more pissed with Santana and me. I mean as much as I liked helping him out, I am kinda glad he's not living here at the moment because I don't want the situation to get worse. Christina and Russell already feel we've turned Dylan even more against them so I don't want them to get any more ammunition to get me in trouble.

Santana, the kids and I are all sitting at dinner together now, just the four of us. I'm really struggling to eat though because I'm worried about the current situation. I just don't know what's going to happen now.

"Mommy sad" Aiden says while putting his fork down and reaching over to me.

"I'm sorry buddy" I smile at him.

"Hug" he says while holding his hands out to me. I then take him from his highchair and place him on my knee with my arms around him. "I make you happy mommy" he smiles.

"You always make me feel better" I smile at him before kissing the top of his head.

"Can I help?" Santana asks Aiden.

"No" Aiden states while shaking his head.

"But I want to help mommy feel better" Santana replies.

"No" Aiden says seriously while glaring at Santana since she won't take no for an answer. He is such a mini Santana when he glares at people. I mean I know he shouldn't go around glaring at people for no reason but honestly it's so cute.

"Fine, I'll just hug Ella then" Santana shrugs while carefully picking Ella up.

"No" Aiden says in an annoyed tone as he scrambles out of my hold to get to Ella. "My sister" he says giving Santana a warning look.

"Yes but she's my daughter" Santana laughs.

"We all love each other so let's not fight over who loves who the most" I say.

"But…" Aiden tries to protest.

"You can come back and hug me Aiden and let mom give Ella a little hug" I smile at him.

"Ok" he says before coming back to me.

"What happened to my little boy? I used to be the one he wanted all the time, not Ella" Santana says laughing.

"I think it's quite cute actually" I say. I mean I didn't like my brothers as much as I liked my sister growing up so I think it's quite sweet how protective Aiden is over Ella.

After clearing up from dinner, Santana and I spend some time playing with the kids before bathing them and putting them to bed. I'm just relaxing on the couch now going through my work emails on my iPad when Santana sits down next to me.

"The kids are asleep now so why don't you and I have some adult time?" Santana asks with a smirk as she puts her arms around me.

"I'm sorry, I'm not in the mood tonight" I admit.

"Babe I will sort this mess with Christina so nothing is going to happen to you. I promise" she replies while leaning in to press a gentle kiss to my head.

"No it's not that" I shake my head. I mean yes I am still slightly worried about what's going to happen but that's not what's putting me off tonight.

"So what's wrong?" she asks worriedly.

"I just have a really bad stomach cramp tonight" I tell her.

"Oh you're on your period?" she says and I nod. "Do you want me to get you anything?" she asks.

"No it's fine, I'm hoping the cramp will pass" I smile. "Thank you though" I add.

"I didn't think you really got stomach cramps anymore" she points out.

"I don't usually get them like I used to but I think the stress of what's going on is making it worse" I reply.

"For a minute I thought you didn't want sex" she replies.

"It's hard not to want you babe" I smile.

"I am rather sexy aren't I?" she smiles smugly.

"Yes and conceited" I laugh. I know she is only messing around though to cheer me up because she's not actually an arrogant person. This is her way of distracting me from the situation and I'm really grateful for it.

* * *

Santana's POV

Monday 28th February 2022

Brittany is at work and the kids are with my sister right now so I'm on my way to speak to Christina. On the one hand I'm dreading it because I feel awkward around her knowing how she feels about me but on the other hand, I want to go to sort out this mess and get Brittany off the hook. I know for a fact Brittany wouldn't hit someone unless they really drove her to it so she shouldn't be punished for this.

I was in two minds about whether to take someone with me or not but I decided against it because I felt it would be better to talk to Christina alone. I don't think Russell will be there right now so I'm hoping for a mature discussion with just the two of us but who knows whether that'll happen or not.

"Santana?" Christina says shocked as she opens the door. She's obviously surprised to see me.

"We need to talk" I say seriously while pushing past her to go inside.

"You can't just walk in like that" she tells me while quickly following me to the kitchen.

"Do you think it's funny to do that to my wife?" I ask angrily.

"She said some horrible things to me too you know" she replies.

"After everything she has done for your son, do you honestly think that was nice what you did?" I ask.

"Look we all say things in the heat of the moment" she sighs. "It's really not that bad though Santana" she shrugs.

"You got her arrested, how is that 'not that bad'?" I ask. I know it wasn't an official arrest but she still got taken in for questioning so that's not an ideal situation.

"Hold on, what did you just say?" Christina asks shocked. "Did you just say Brittany was arrested?" she asks.

"Yes, for slapping you" I state.

"Santana I did not call the police, I promise you" Christina shakes her head.

"So you're calling my wife a liar now?" I ask.

"Are you calling me a liar?" she retorts.

"The police came to talk to Brittany yesterday about the conversation you two had and why she slapped you" I reply.

"Ok I did wind her up and say things I probably shouldn't but that was in the heat of the moment. I can assure you I did not call the police or anything like that" she tells me. Weirdly enough, I think I actually do believe her although if she didn't then who did?

"Who did then?" I ask.

"The only two people that I told about our argument were Russell and Dylan" she replies.

"Well none of my family knew you two had even spoken so it's not us" I state. "It can only be Russell or Dylan then" I add.

"I don't understand why they would do that though. What happened was between Brittany and me so none of it affected them" Christina says in confusion.

"We're going to need to ask them" I say.

"I know but Russell isn't home yet so we'll…" Christina is interrupted by the door banging shut. "Actually that's probably him now" she says just as Russell walks into the room. As soon as he sees me his smile turns to a vicious glare.

"What is that doing here?" he asks while pointing at me.

"Russell, did you call the police about Brittany slapping me?" Christina asks her husband completely ignoring his question.

"Yes and I would do it again to see that smug smile disappear from her face" he says pointing at me again. I'm doing everything I can not to hit him right now. Knowing him he would call the police on me too so I need to stay calm.

"You idiot" Christina shakes her head. "Just because you're pissed at me and Santana does not mean you can bring Brittany into this."

"Aren't you happy though because Brittany said some awful things to you?" Russell asks Christina.

"I said some nasty things too so no, I'm not happy" Christina sighs. Yeah I'm not happy either. "I understand if it was something silly and you wanted to get back at Santana but getting someone arrested. That is way too far especially when Brittany has children and a career to think about" she says shaking her head again.

"You do understand that I have no feelings for your wife, yes?" I say to Russell. "There is actually no need for you to get back at me because I have done nothing to you. It's not my fault your wife doesn't love a bastard like you. I didn't ask her to like me or reciprocate any of these feelings so I haven't hurt you."

"Yes but you're the reason I have a ruined marriage. If you weren't around my wife wouldn't fall for you and we wouldn't be in this mess" he states.

"Wake the hell up would you" I shake my head. Nothing is that simple so the chances are she might have fell for someone else if I wasn't here.

"You should be mad at me Russell, not Santana and most certainly not Brittany" Christina says.

"No, Santana deserves to be hurt" Russell shakes his head.

"I have bent over backwards to help your son and this is the thanks I get" I say shaking my head. "I didn't need to do any of what I did to help Dylan but I did and all you can do to repay me is to get my wife arrested, who by the way has been a better parent to Dylan than either of the two of you."

"Don't worry Santana, I will make sure this goes no further" Christina assures me.

"See, I can't make the same kind of promises" Russell smirks at me.

"If you do not drop these charges, I'll make your life a living hell" I say.

"Is that a threat?" Russell laughs.

"You bet your fucking ass it's a threat. Hurt my family again and I'll hurt yours worse than you can ever imagine" I say seriously.

"What are you going to do?" he asks.

"Trust me, you don't want to find out" I warn him. I'm sure there must be some dirt I could get on him because he was a well-known basketball player back in college so I could really do some damage to his reputation.

"Honestly Santana, I will end this charade" Christina states.

"Yeah, you better" I say before storming out. If I'm there any longer I might do something I seriously regret so it's better to just leave. I sit in my car for a few minutes to calm down before heading to my sister's house to get the kids. I spend some time there and we all have lunch together before I take the kids back home and put them down for a nap.

XXX

I'm just making a start on dinner when I hear the front door close meaning Brittany has just got home. She doesn't walk into the kitchen right away so I'm assuming she's taking her shoes off and getting rid of her coat. As soon as she does walk in though, Aiden jumps off his seat and bolts across the room to her.

"Hi buddy" she says engulfing Aiden in a big hug.

"Colour with me" Aiden says excitedly.

"Ok but let me say hello to Ella first" Brittany says while walking over to the table. "Hi sweetheart" she says while leaning down to Ella in her bouncer.

"Aiden why don't you get a picture ready for mommy to colour" I say while helping him onto his seat.

"Ok mom" he nods while looking for a picture he thinks Brittany will want to colour in.

"Ok what have you got me?" Brittany asks while sitting down next to Aiden.

"I've got a car and you've got a princess" Aiden smiles brightly at Brittany.

"Ok" she smiles back at him before looking up at me. "Hi" she smiles.

"Hey" I smile back before leaning down to kiss her cheek. I then go back to taking care of dinner while she colours in pictures with Aiden. "I went to see Christina today" I tell her.

"How did it go?" Brittany asks worriedly, looking over at me.

"It was Russell that called the police. He did it because he wanted me to hurt and knew you were just the way to go to do just that" I sigh. "I am sorry babe" I apologise.

"None of this is your fault because I know you don't feel the same way about Christina" she replies.

"The main thing is that Christina doesn't want things to go any further so I think she'll manage to persuade Russell to let things go. To be honest though, she's the one that got hit so I can't see him being able to do anything if Christina doesn't want to take it further" I say.

"So you think I'll be ok then?" she asks.

"I really do" I smile.

"Ok" she says while breathing a sigh of relief.

"Don't worry about it anymore, ok" I say while walking over to her and lightly massaging her shoulders.

"Oh that feels good" she says smiling.

"Did you have a hard day at work?" I ask.

"Not really but I did find it really hard to concentrate though" she admits.

"Yeah I wouldn't be able to concentrate at work if I knew I had someone as amazing as me at home waiting for me" I tease. I know she was talking about the Christina situation though.

"I know you're joking but it is so true sometimes" she laughs.

As soon as I finish making dinner, we all sit down to eat together. We then spend some time with Aiden and Ella like we usually do before putting them to bed. Brittany and I are now both in the bedroom.

"#Let's talk about sex baby…#" Brittany sings to herself as she gets ready for bed.

"Why talk about it when we can just do it for real" I say smirking at her.

"You know we can't tonight" she says regrettably.

"Yeah I know" I nod. "We can still cuddle up in bed together though and maybe watch a movie or something" I say.

"Sounds good" she smiles.

Once we're ready for bed, we get settled, cuddled up together while putting on a movie. For the first half of the movie, everything is going well until I notice Brittany starting to get bored as usual. She starts getting a little more affectionate with me but I don't think too much of it initially. However as the minutes go by, Brittany isn't making any effort to stop. She moves her hand a bit more central of my body and gently brushes her fingers against my crotch.

"Do you like that?" she asks, a smirk appearing across her face.

"Yeah, a little too much actually" I admit. I am trying so hard here not to react but when Brittany is touching me like that, my brain knows that I usually like that so sends out all the right signals.

"You're breathing a lot heavier and your heart rate is picking up" she points out as she places a kiss to my cheek. After continuing what she's doing for a moment or two, she slowly moves her hand and slices it down past the waistband of my pyjamas.

"Britt, don't" I say, finally working up the courage to talk.

"Don't you want me to keep going?" she asks.

"I really do and that's the problem" I sigh. "You said no tonight but if you keep doing what you're doing then I'm going to end up getting even more worked up."

"I can't have sex right now but it doesn't mean I can't get you off" she smirks.

"As much as I really want that, it's not fair on you" I shake my head.

"Trust me, I'll survive" she smiles.

"But I feel bad because I don't want you to think it's all about me" I say.

"I started this Santana so I don't think that plus I know you're not selfish in bed" she says with a smile. "Also, it's pleasurable enough for me just watching you" she smirks.

"Ok" I say while pulling her close to me in a passionate kiss.

* * *

Brittany's POV

Saturday 5th March 2022

Santana is taking us out for lunch today which I thought was really nice. It's just going to be the two of us and Aiden and Ella. I am so thankful she managed to talk Christina and Russell round so they would drop the case. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from me so now I can finally relax. I didn't realise just how worried I really was until it was all over and a huge wave of relief washed over me.

Santana is just getting the kids ready for the day while I get dressed after my shower. She got ready earlier than me this morning since she got out of bed earlier so she said I could just take my time in organising myself and she'd sort out the kids.

"If I said you were sexy, what would you say?" Santana says walking into the room just as I'm changing.

"Take me to bed" I smirk.

"I can't really do that though when we're about to head out to lunch with the kids" she says with a playful sigh.

"There's always later though, right?" I wink.

"Definitely" she nods.

Once we're all ready, the four of us head out to the restaurant. It's a little bit of a drive away but it is a favourite restaurant of ours so we don't mind. When we get there, the waiter shows us to our table right away and we order some drinks before looking at the menu. I order my food first and then Aiden's but Santana is taking some time to make up her mind about what she wants.

"It says here slow roasted chicken, now how long are we talking because I'm quite hungry so I don't know how long I can wait?" Santana asks.

"Santana, please" I say laughing.

"It's a genuine question babe" she shrugs before turning to the waiter. "So?"

"I think it's partially roasted already" the waiter replies.

"I don't know if I want reheated food. It reminds me of reheating my take out the next day, you know" she sighs.

"I very much doubt it will taste like that" I say. I mean it's not exactly reheated, it's just partially cooked.

"What about the Chef's famous lasagne, I mean is it really famous?" Santana asks the waiter.

"Um…" the waiter doesn't know what to say.

"I mean I've never heard of it before so is it really that famous. Is that not a little bit like false advertising" Santana says. When she's happy, she has a tendency to wind people up a bit and have a joke. It is really cute but I also get concerned that someone else is getting embarrassed or offended.

"Just ignore her, she'll take the chicken" I smile at the waiter.

"Oh will she?" Santana says smirking at me.

"Yes" I nod. The waiter then leaves, satisfied that we have finally ordered. "I'm the boss around here, remember babe" I smile.

"You can boss me around anytime you like" she smirks.

"I'll bear that in mind" I smile. We continue talking for a little bit until our food comes.

"Oh here's your food Aiden, are you hungry" Santana says to him.

"Yes" he says clapping his hands excitedly.

"Mommy is hungry too" I say smiling at him as the waiter places our plates down.

"Yes but I don't think its food she's hungry for" Santana says smirking at me and winking.

"Uh…enjoy your food" the waiter says uncomfortably as he places the last plate down.

"Thank you" I say slightly embarrassed. The waiter then leaves. "You made that poor waiter uncomfortable there saying that in front of him."

"It's true though, isn't it?" Santana shrugs with a smile. I am so glad the kids were too preoccupied with their food otherwise they'd have heard too.

"It might be but it doesn't mean the whole world needs to know I want you like all of the time" I say smiling back at her.

"Ok" she nods. "Hey I meant to ask, what are you doing on the 2nd of July this year?" Santana asks curiously.

"I think I'm busy then so if you had something planned then I can't make that date" I shrug.

"Why not?" she asks frowning in confusion.

"Because it says in my diary I've scheduled sex then" I smirk. "I have just admitted I like sex so it's no surprise" I add.

"I think if that were true I'd know all about it because I'm the only one you have sex with" she smiles.

"Yeah you might think that" I tease.

"Hey they're better not be anyone else" she states.

"Of course there's not" I shakes my head. "Who is going to want to sleep with me anyway" I state.

"Loads of people Brittany but the only difference would be is that I get to and they don't" Santana smiles.

"Why are you asking about that date anyway, have you got something planned?" I ask curiously.

"Well actually, I was on the phone to Quinn yesterday and she was saying that's when they want to have the wedding" she replies.

"Oh that's nice" I smile.

"She was thinking about going away to have the wedding so we'd need to book some time off work and have a mini vacation" Santana replies.

"Sounds like fun" I smile. It might be nice for the whole family to go away together and celebrate something nice. I mean I was pregnant at my own wedding so that put a slight dampener on things and I was pregnant again on our last mini vacation so it might be good to finally have some fun.

"I know I tease her and my brother a lot but I'm really glad they're finally happy and settling down together because they spent so much time trying to hide how they really felt" she says honestly.

"They make a great couple" I smile.

"Yeah they kinda do actually but they're…"

"Not as great as us as a couple?" I ask laughing, assuming that's how she was going to finish the sentence.

"How did you know I was going to say that" Santana replies laughing.

"Because I know you" I smile at her.

"Fair point" she nods with a smile.

"Mom, don't like" Aiden says to Santana interrupting our little moment of just staring lovingly into one another's eyes.

"Aiden you do like peas remember" Santana tells him.

"No" Aiden shakes his head while flicking a pea across the table.

"They're nice vegetables Aiden" I say while taking a pea from his plate and eating it.

"No mommy" he shakes his head at me while flicking another pea across the table.

"Aiden Pierce Lopez, you do not flick food like that" Santana warns him. "I let it go the first time but you've done it again so I want no more" she tells him seriously.

"Don't like you" Aiden glares at Santana.

"Glare all you want but you're not having ice cream for dessert if your vegetables are not eaten" she tells him. Aiden huffs and stares at her for a minute but when Santana doesn't break the seriousness in her face, he realises she's not going to give in so he starts eating again.

"You're getting good at being firm with him" I tell Santana. She struggled to say no to the kids for a while but she's getting better at it now.

"A little too good I think that one of these times he's going to turn around and say he hates me" Santana sighs.

"Honey don't get worried about that because it's not going to happen" I say honestly. "Aiden loves you more than he loves anyone, he's just trying to see if he can break you but keep being strong then he'll know not to mess with you" I tell her. Santana gave in a lot more than I did when Aiden was younger and he knows that just too well so he tries to mess with her because he knows already I would say no but Santana might not. When he realises we both say no then he drops things immediately.

"I know I need to be his parent and not his best friend but I hate that look he gives me when he doesn't get what he wants" she sighs again.

"Like I say, he's trying to play with you but honestly he's not going to hate you for saying no. You're just softer on him than me so he tries to wear you down. I mean I should know because I did it with my dad all the time. My mom said no most of the time but I knew my dad just wanted to give in to me so I always went to him first to get something because I thought I could persuade him" I say, chuckling slightly at the thought.

"Ok" Santana nods.

"Aiden eat all your vegetables and then we can get ice cream, ok?" I say to Aiden.

"Ok" he sighs.

"Vegetables make you big and strong and you want to be big and strong don't you?" Santana says looking at Aiden.

"Yes" Aiden nods.

"I'm just going to the bathroom to change Ella, I'll be back in five minutes" I tell Santana as I pick Ella up.

"Ok" Santana smiles at me. Just as I'm walking away, I hear Aiden apologise to Santana which totally melts my heart. I know he's my son too but there's just something really sweet about Santana and her son together.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Friday 11th March 2022

Santana has started working again but it's only the two days at the moment which are Thursday and Friday. She does try to work from home on Mondays but it doesn't always work out as well since she has the kids. The kids are starting at the day-care at the hospital where I work but that doesn't start for another couple of weeks so our family are helping us out with childcare. Santana said she was more than happy to wait to go back to work when Aiden and Ella had officially started at day-care but I didn't want that. She won't it admit it, but I can see just how lonely she's been getting recently and quite bored. Don't get me wrong, she loves being with the children but apart from when I get home from work, she doesn't get any adult interaction or the chance to have a mature conversation.

My mom and dad aren't working today so they've got Aiden and Ella so we'll pick them up later. Right now though, I've just finished work so I'm heading to Santana's office to give her a ride home. We could have drove separately to work this morning but I thought it might be nice to have an extra 10 minutes in the car together before and after work.

"I'm going to wait for Santana in her office" I tell the receptionist. She's been working for Santana and Artie for years so she knows me pretty well.

"No problem Brittany" she smiles. I make my way to Santana's office and wait there until she gets back from her meeting with Artie. I knew she had a short meeting with him at this time so I thought I could surprise her in her office when she came back.

"Guess who" I say while covering her eyes from behind when Santana walks in the door.

"I think it's someone I'm insanely in love with" she replies.

"She's insanely in love with you too" I say while slowly moving my hands down the front of Santana's body.

"What are you doing?" she asks curiously.

"You in a second" I whisper seductively in here ear.

"Oh" she says caught off guard as I slowly push my hand against her clothed crotch.

"Have you got time or do you need to tie up some loose ends since you're almost finished work?" I ask.

"I've got time, I've always got time for you" she smiles while turning around in my arms. "Artie and I pretty much wrapped everything up at the meeting" she tells me.

"Good" I smile before leaning down to kiss her.

"Wait, what about the door?" she asks while momentarily pulling away from me.

"I doubt anyone will come in because we've had enough visitors in here before for them to know it's a no go area when it's just you and I here" I smile. We have been caught on numerous occasions so I think everyone around here knows not to come in when I'm in Santana's office.

"That's true" she chuckles.

"What are we waiting for then, get on the desk" I instruct.

"I don't know if that'll be very comfortable" Santana points out.

"Please don't ruin my moment of authority. I'm trying to be bossy and sexy here by telling you what to do" I reply.

"I'm sorry but I'm just thinking further ahead and how the desk wouldn't really work as well as the couch might" Santana shrugs. "We're kid free right now so I don't want just a quickie" she smiles. I suppose she does have a point.

"Ok, lie on the couch then" I say, "now!" I add for more authority.

"Yes Britt" she smiles while lying down.

"Take your pants off too" I say while slipping my shoes off along with my sweater. I was at work so I'm not exactly as sexily dressed as I'd like to be.

"Yes Ms Lopez" Santana nods while shuffling out of her pants.

"Don't touch the blouse though, I'll handle that" I say while slipping my pants off before straddling Santana.

XXX

After spending more time than we meant to in Santana's office, we make ourselves presentable and head out to the car. Artie was staying longer at work so he was just going to help close up. Once we pick up the kids, we make our way home.

"Why don't I drop you and the children at home and I'll go and get us some takeout for dinner" I suggest.

"I can go if you want" Santana shrugs.

"No I'll go and it'll give you some time with the kids because I know you've missed them today" I smile. I know I said Santana was looking forward to going back to work but I still know she's finding it hard to be separated from the kids since she's spent so much time with them.

"Ok" she smiles.

"I won't be long" I tell her as I park up outside and help her get the kids out of the car.

"Ok" she smiles again.

"I'll be back soon" I tell Aiden and Ella.

"Ok mommy" Aiden smiles at me.

"Will I just get us the usual order" I ask Santana and she nods. "Ok" I smile before leaning in to quickly kiss her. I then jump back in the car and go to pick us up some food. It takes a little longer than I expected so I'm finally glad to be home when I open the front door. However that thought quickly disappears when I make my way to the kitchen. "Hey baaaaabe!" I scream as I fall to the floor.

"Are you ok?" Santana asks while running over to me in concern.

"More toys? Really Santana?" I ask unamused.

"Aiden got all these toys when he was Ella's age" Santana shrugs.

"I've just about broke my neck by tripping over them and the food is likely ruined now" I say.

"I'm sorry, I did ask Aiden to help me tidy up before you got back but we must have missed one of Ella's toys" she says.

"It's fine" I shrug. "I might have a slight bruise on my leg but I'm sure I'll live" I say.

"I'll make it up to you" Santana smiles.

"Oh, does that mean mommy gets a new toy too?" I ask jokingly.

"Mommy doesn't need a new toy when she has all of this to play with" Santana says smirking as she gestures up and down her body with her hand.


End file.
